Pursuing Joy

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” 

—Hebrews 12:1-3

What is the overarching pursuit of our lives? We all are pursuing something, a cause, a person, a goal…something. And why do we pursue it? We pursue it because we believe that the accomplishment or product of our pursuit will be joy. It will make us happy, complete, at peace, at rest, in essence…joyful. This life is full of different things that are competing for our affection, but there is only one pursuit that trumps all others because of its end result: pursuing Christ because it results in everlasting joy in the presence of God.

Joy is a natural pursuit for each one of us; we want to have joy and we seek it at every opportunity we get. But, whether we realize it or not, there is only one joy that can fill the hole within each of our hearts, and that is the joy that we have in God. It is in the person of Jesus Christ where our restless hearts find rest and true, abiding, deeply felt satisfaction. Or as the great theologian Augustine once said, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You." While it is natural for us to pursue joy, the only thing that can fill or satisfy this pursuit of joy is Jesus Christ Himself. It is in His presence that we have “fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore”—Psalm 16:11.

Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for sinners, but He did so in the pursuit of joy. As our passage for today reveals, Jesus’ pursuit was not only for His joy, but also for our joy and salvation: “who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.” What would cause someone to go through the terrors of torment, the horror of humiliation, and the venomous accusations and insults that were hurled upon Him? What would make Him want to give His life for us when we were, as the Scripture says, “still yet enemies” (Romans 5:8)? He endured all of that in the pursuit of joy—His and ours. It was to His joy to have His completed act of love seen, accepted, and alive within us who believe, and it was to our joy to embrace it.

The joy that was set before Him was that all who placed their trust in Him would spend eternity in His presence, eternally delighting in who He is and what He has done. All of the trials, tribulations, and terrors that we endure now are for our joy. How? Our joy is not dependent upon our external circumstances, but upon our internal disposition that was made available through the cross and made secure through the resurrection of Christ. Joy is our pursuit in that we find complete satisfaction in and through Jesus Christ, because we know that it is only through Him that we have any meaning. We were created for a purpose, to glorify Him by enjoying Him. By supremely enjoying Him in every area of our life, we are showing that He is worth more than anything this world has to offer. We pursue joy in Christ because it is through the object and pursuit of joy that we are strengthened. Or as the Scripture says in the latter part of Nehemiah 8:10, “For the joy of the LORD is your strength." The joy that we have in Christ enables us to see beyond our struggles, our pain, trials, and tribulations. We undergo all of the difficulties of this life for His glory and our joy, because we know that we will be rewarded with Jesus Himself. He will honor us at the curtain call of this world by ushering us into the hallowed halls of endless delight where we will continually partake of the overflowing, soul-satisfying food available at the table of eternity where the wondrous story of His amazing love will be marveled at and delighted in forever.

My brother or sister, are we pursuing our joy in Christ? Or are we pursuing our joy in something less than what we were made for? Are we trying to drink of Christ, or are we attempting to drink from the cesspool of this world’s pseudo-delicacies? I pray that each one of us may “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) so that we may continually delight in Him and pursue our joy in Him. May our sole satisfaction be seen in the pursuit of our joy, and may others desire to pursue their joy in Christ as well because they have seen the overflowing joy in our own hearts as we continually fill ourselves up with Him. Amen.