An old chorus goes “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart.” It’s a peppy little tune. Each verse adds some words, making it fun and challenging to sing. Another verse goes “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in the depths of my heart.”

How’s your joy today? Do you have it deep in your heart? Is it there to stay? Remember, Joy is not happiness. Happiness depends on circumstances. If you get a raise at work, you are happy. No raise? You’re not happy. Lose your job? You are unhappy. But joy can exist through each of these circumstances. It comes from within us and doesn’t depend on external things.

Couldn’t we each use more joy in these times? How can we find joy? Listen to Jesus’ words recorded in John 15:10-12, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (NIV 1984)

Jesus tells us that the route to complete joy is to love others with the same type of unselfish love he expresses for us. Want some joy? Love others as Jesus has loved us.

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Bumper music “Landing Place” performed by Mark July, used under license from Shutterstock.