The spam filter went down at work for a few days – at no fault of the IT department. So all weekend I was getting inundated with junk mail, most of which I was trying to eliminate as fast as it come in. One kept catching my attention however, as it was promising inexpensive replica watches for bargain prices. The ad went like this:
“Ever see someone with one of those expensive watches and want to feel the power and presence of that on your own wrist. For much less than you think, you could have the feelings of prestige and refinement that set you apart from the crowd. These watches look and feel like the real McCoy in every detail. Only a qualified jeweler would be able to tell them apart. Have the presence without the investment. “
That got me thinking, that’s a lot like the difference between joy and happiness. Many people settle for happiness, which is just a replica of joy. One of the reasons is the promise that happiness will bring the same benefits as joy for only a fraction of the investment. The challenge is, like a replica watch, although you might fool those around you that you have is the real McCoy, you yourself know that it is a fraud. When people ask you "Is that real", it forces you to lie - or risk exposure of the deception for what it is. People want happiness but they don’t often want to make the invest of what it takes to gain joy. What happens is that although it may fool those around us, there is a hollowness and emptiness that comes. The voices inside accuse us of being a fake and fraud. We fool others at the expense of own lives. The result is that we become even more unhappy.
People want joy in their life. It is amazing the chances, choices and personal prices that people will take in order to have moments of happiness, only to discover that what they hoped to bring them that happiness evaporates in their hands and leads them in a worse state. God does not promise happiness, but he does promise joy. It is God’s purpose that joy, unlike happiness be everlasting.
“…and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” Isaiah 35:10.
What is joy? Is joy just a feeling, like happiness that comes and goes with a circumstance– I feel happy, I feel sad, or is there a more quantitative aspect to joy that make it more enduring? There are some realities about the nature of happiness that we accept.
• Happiness is not to be a goal
• Happiness is not a ‘Right’
• Happiness is not guaranteed
• Happiness is not the cure for sadness
• Happiness is fleeting
Over the next few days of this Advent week of Joy, we are going to be considering how we replace the replica of of happiness for the real McCoy of Joy.
Maybe our new ad should be
"Tired of the hangovers of the replica of happiness? Ever want to have the geninue article of joy? Why settle for a replica of momentary happiness, when you can experience the real thing. It is true that it will cost you your whole life, but what value of what you recieve far surpassess the price".
Anyway, I was just thinking.
Neil
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