As it turns out, the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and JOY. That sounds wonderful, except for the fact that I must have missed that detail in Sunday School, because I don’t have much Joy fruit in my life. Joy is not only one of three things that compose the Kingdom of God, but is one of the fruit of the spirit, and is directly related to the spiritual discipline of celebration. I’m not sure how I missed the value of Joy these 28 years.

To be clear, Joy is not fleeting happiness. It is not irresponsible passion. Joy is not limited to the frivolous, the insignificant or irrelevant, the non influential, those living in LaLa Land, the irresponsible, or the young. Joy IS the Kingdom of God and is essential for all who desire the Kingdom of God on Earth.

I don’t remember Joy being directly taught in my household. Yes, we had fun and my parents taught me cooping mechanisms for when I was anxious. I’m sure I was told the value of Joy, but somehow I still missed something.

Yet, if I desire to live out the Kingdom of God, have any spiritual fruit, or practice spiritual disciplines, I need to have Joy. Not happy fleeting moments, but to value and embody Joy just as much as righteousness. The Bible does not say that the Kingdom of God is mostly righteousness with sporadically occurring Joy and peace when convenient. No, righteousness, peace and Joy are equal parts of the whole Kingdom of God. Thus, if I want to call down and embody the Kingdom of God, I need to practice Joy just as often as I practice righteousness. And don’t even get me started on peace… That is a whole different conversation!

It is said that Satan is the Joy stealer, which sounds sad and is a good analogy to give young children with developing theologies. But, truly, that’s a big deal. If evil principalities seek to kill, destroy and take Joy, then Joy must be powerful. I am afraid that I’ve been missing out.

To me, Joy has always seemed like an extravagance. Joy has never been a priority, in fact, I recall being taught that seeking Joy is hedonism. Joy was never something to learn or work for or stewards, rather, it was always a perk and a frivolous result of life lived righteously. In my mind, Joy was never particularly productive, so I thought it wasn’t valuable, thus, I never learned to cultivate Joy.

Joy is no more foreign to human nature than is righteousness. Yet Joy often is written off as though it need not be developed or maintained. So, as I am recognizing that Joy is the Kingdom of God and is valuable, I am also recognizing that there is much for me to learn about Joy… And much more Joy to live out.

So follow this journey the next 7 days as we call forth JOY TO THE WORLD, and as I seek out what Joy actually means, what Joy actually looks like.