Joy is Serious Business!

Joy is serious business! It is the natural state of the soul. Joylessness is like a toothache, which indicates an internal cavity -- or worse.

When we realize the joy has evaporated -- it's time to do some inner heart examination. Where did it go? What toxins have entered my soul, resulting this negativism? What must I do to recapture the joy? Leaking seems to be a part of the human condition. We're all a bunch of "joy leakers!"

One lady tearfully prayed, “Please fill me with joy again!" Her husband, overhearing her request, prayed, "Don't do it Lord! She leaks!"

It might be a good idea to patch up the holes.  Perhaps we need a spiritual root canal.

Holding a small perspective towards life will drain the joy right out of your heart. As the hero in Red Badge of Courage stated, "elfin thoughts made cowards of us all."

Ancient desert fathers spoke of "logismoi", the dark thoughts -- the false thoughts and desires that lead us to despair.

If you want to rekindle the joy, you have to declare war on "logismoi!" What false thoughts have been hammering your mind? How have dark thoughts clouded reality? The truth will set you free!

Gordon MacDonald, in "Monday Morning Restoration", spoke of the "Seven Deadly Siphons. These are the things that drain our positive energy, faith and joy.

1) Words without action.
2) Busyness without purpose.
3) Calendars without a Sabbath.
4) Relationships without mutual nourishment.
5) Personality without self-examination.
6) Natural giftedness without spiritual power.
7) An enormous theology without an adequate spirituality. 

From such things, Oh Lord, deliver us, and help us plug the leaks!