Happiness vs. Joy - What's the difference?

What is the difference between Happiness and Joy?

There is little difference between the definitions between Happiness and Joy according to Webster’s 1828 dictionary.

Our constitution states it is about “…the pursuit of happiness”.   It is a common human desire to attempt to get as much happiness as we can out of life before we die.  Man has always sought ways to obtain happiness through benevolent acts, self-sacrifice, family, etc.  But these personal motives are always the same, happiness is like a void which cannot be completely filled, we always desire more.

However, in contrast joy is an emotion.  We can experience joy when we accomplish something significant or even when someone else does.  Joy also resonates with God as He works within us to change us to be more like Himself, we become aware of His pleasure (his unmerited grace) and it causes us to have joy in knowing we are accepted and have the confidence knowing that we are loved by our creator. 

Sharing in the joy that Jesus has with the Father does not come by our efforts or by just what we do, it is all about what Jesus did.  If obtaining this type of joy were about the things we do, then there would be no need for Jesus, and His sacrifice would be meaningless for we could work out life for ourselves, and joy would be no more than us feeling better about ourselves and creating an emotional response of satisfaction which in turn might help us in becoming better people.  But this fails to address the fact that we are dead in trespass and sin.  It is hard to make a dead man anything more than what he already is, dead!  Only the life of Christ gives life to a body which is dead.  We are born again into newness of life in Him, and that is where we first partake of Jesus’ joy.

The apostle Paul was a devout Pharisee and a murderer, that is what he did and it is what defined his early life.  Jesus revealed Himself to Paul on the road to Damascus by demonstrating that He (Jesus) was much more than a concept or a religious belief, Jesus revealed Himself as a real person to Paul.  What God worked into Paul’s life after that encounter was a deeper understanding that Jesus could make him into a man of God by changing him from the inside out, rather than Paul trusting in all the outward religious training he had received.  Paul received Christ and his life was turned upside down.

Colossians 1:26-27 (NKJV)

²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. ²⁷ To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Paul became one of the most influential leaders of the Church because he saw the complete sufficiency of Christ working within his mind and body to transform him.  It was the love of God that compelled Paul to become a servant of Jesus and to commit his life to full-time service as his calling.  He found the Joy in Jesus Christ.

Paul was transformed from a man who was prejudiced and vindictive against Christians, into a man who had encountered Jesus Christ and devoted his entire life to building the Church.  Paul counted everything he had previously gained as a loss so that he may know the fullness of Christ.

Philippians 3:8 (NKJV)

⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ

 So where is Joy in all of this loss?  I believe that when we come to the realization that as we surrender our life to Christ we receive His joy.  Joy as a Christian is not something that we can work up on our own like happiness.  We are participants of Jesus’ joy with the Father.
  

John 15:10-12 (NKJV)

¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

And also:

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NKJV)

 ¹ Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We can participate in Jesus’ joy because of His accomplishments of enduring the cross on our behalf and suffering for our sins.  Jesus did not deserve to die for He had no sin, it was we who deserved the penalty of death for our sins, not Him.  Jesus saw within us something of beauty worth protecting and saving which we could not see.  Jesus looks at us and sees a precious bride. 

John 17:24-26 (NKJV)

²⁴ “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵ O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. ²⁶ And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

May you know the fullness of Joy today as you receive the daily awareness of Jesus’ love for you, and may you patiently endure all of the temptations and trials that are set before you, having this goal in mind, that you may endure and participate in that most divine interaction of all, Jesus’ joy with the Father.

Stephen Barnett

         
Mourning into Dancing

                Written by: Tommy Walker

Where there once

Was only hurt

You gave Your

Healing hand

Where the once

Was only pain

You brought comfort

Like a friend

I feel the sweetness

Of Your love

Piercing my darkness

I see the bright

And morning sun

As it ushers in

Your joyful gladness

Chorus:

He's turned my mourning

Into dancing again

He's lifted my sorrows

I can't stay silent

I must sing

For His joy has come

Your anger lasts

For a moment in time

But Your favor is here

And will on me for

All my life time

© 1992 Integrity's Praise! Music

The music and graphics above are copyrighted by the artists and intended for educational purposes only and are not intended for commercial usage.