“It is unlikely that many of us have had it worse than Paul. He is right up there with Job of the Old Testament on the Richter scale of human earthquakes. The point us not to keep score on who has suffered the most but to focus on who has experienced the most joy despite (or even because of) the suffering.”- Randy Frazee
“So [Paul and Barnabas] shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”- Acts 13:51-52 (NIV)
Randy Frazee concludes the intro to Part 1 of The Joy Challenge as he underscores that when it came to joy, for Paul the sky was the limit. As Charles Swindoll once observed, 10 percent of life consists of what happens to you. The other 90 percent covers your reaction to what happens to you.
Therefore, how we think about our external circumstances drives our joy. Not the external circumstances themselves. Hence, in the Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, one scholar wrote this of Paul:
“Here one learns that joy is not so much a feeling as it is a settled state of mind characterized by peace, an attitude that views life — including all of its ups and downs — with equanimity. It is a confident way of looking at life that is rooted in faith in the living Lord of the church. For it is possible for one to accept both elation and depression, to accept with creative submission events that bring either delight or dismay, because joy allows one to see beyond any particular event to the sovereign Lord who stands above all events.”
In conclusion, Randy exhorts, the kind of joy Paul experienced is not like the elusive carrot on a stick. However, Randy cautions, each of us faces a choice. To enter onto the biblical path of joy — or not. We no longer need to live under our circumstances.
Today’s question: Where do you place your life on the Richter scale of human earthquakes? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Joy conditioning a memory”
