At times like these, when it can feel that everything is getting darker and harder, joy is an act of resistance. Our choice to claim joy for our lives stands in opposition to the kind of dark and sinister powers and principalities which seek to corrupt and destroy us.

Choosing Joy as an Act of Resistance

The powers of this world thrive on fear. Fear breeds resentment and hatred and ultimately violence, whether physical, social, or political. It makes us isolate and oppress others to make ourselves feel safer and more secure.

Fear makes us choose safety and security over the risk of loving and serving others. It makes us hunker down, build walls around us, and turns the stranger, the other, into the enemy.

But joy cuts through all of that nonsense. I’m not talking about happiness. Happiness comes and goes, like lightning in a storm. Joy, the deep down sense of peace and hope is lasting and enduring. Happiness comes from our circumstances. Joy is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Like all fruit, it has to be tended, watered, fed, and given good ground to put down roots. To be joyful is a choice that we must make each day. Joy is a choice we make in defiance of world events, the circumstances of our lives, and the insidious voices of the shadows lurking at the corners of our world.

To be joyful is an act of resistance.

Joyful Acts of Resistance

When we choose to make joy, the mix of hope and peace and love and faith combined together, the centre of our life, we become a beacon to others. When we refuse to let ourselves be ruled by fear and despair but instead be ruled by joy, then we stand apart from the world. We prophetically point towards the reason for our joy. We point towards Christ.

Our joy is not random. It is rooted deep in the promises of Jesus. We believe that the evil of this world is insignificant next to the power of Jesus. The hurts and destructive powers we see at work in our life and the lives of so many others are also minor in comparison. God will make all things come together for good in the end. There is nothing that can separate us from God’s love.

We take hold of the promise that the worst things we, or anyone else, could ever do are never enough to even come close to infinite wonder and splendour of the love and grace of Jesus. Our joy is rooted in Jesus, the giver of life. We believe in the promise that what is happening today is not what will win the ultimate victory. This world will be redeemed and transformed. Scripture tells us that Joy comes in the morning. But I think that its roots are planted today.

We Need to Cultivate Our Joy

We have to tend to our joy like we tend to a plant. Joy needs to be fed and watered and guarded. We feed our joy through worship and bible study, through giving time to prayer and fellowship, by sharing our struggles with each other and celebrating our successes. Joy can grow in the most barren land. Its tender shoots can rip their way through even the hardest hearts. Joy grows in spite of opposition, despite evidence against hope, in opposition to fear. We cultivate our joy as an act of resistance. This act proclaims the Lordship of Christ. We do this even when we can only hold that claim by faith and not by sight.

Today choose joy. Not just because it will make your life better, but because joy is an act of resistance. If you feel that there is nothing that you can do to make the world a better place, choose joy. Choose to resist the powers that rule by fear and control. Instead, let joy bloom into fresh life in your heart. Let it serve as a beacon of hope for others. May your joy shine like a light in the darkness, proclaiming your hope for the future and the certainty of Christ. Let your joy echo like the voices of ancient prophets. I pray that it reminds the world that Christ rules. He will set this world to rights.

May the joy of Christ live in your hearts today. Choose joy each day in defiance and resistance. Resist the powers and principalities that would consign you to fear, hatred, and despair.

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