The opposite of joy
We read in 1 Peter 1:6 (NCV): “This makes you very happy, even though now for a short time different kinds of troubles may make you sad.”
Here we see that sadness and joy can be present in a person at the same time. The sadness in itself doesn’t need to take away the joy and happiness.
But there are two things that can’t be present in a person at the same time – and that is joy and sin. As soon as sin comes in a person’s mind and takes control, joy goes away. To get the joy back, sin has to leave. For that, you first have to receive forgiveness, and then you should be made free from the power that this sin has over you.
God’s Word says this in Proverbs 28:13 (BBE): “He who keeps his sins secret will not do well; but one who is open about them, and gives them up, will get mercy.”
So the opposite of joy and happiness isn’t called sorrow or sadness as most people think, but it is called sin!
Sin – living for myself
When hearing the word “sin”, most people think of serious things like hatred, lying, murder, stealing and immorality. But it’s not only these things that are called sin in the Bible. The Bible also speaks about sin as self-life (our own “life” or own will). “All who want to come after me,” says Jesus in Matthew 16:24 (CEB), “must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me.”
In 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT) it’s written about Christ, that “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
This is what sin really is, it’s a life with me at the centre. Everything is about me and my affairs, how I look, the impression I make on others etc. If I do a “good deed”, I wonder what the others around me think of it.
All sin, all bad habits and tendencies have their source in this – a life for myself. Jesus has bought me free from this heavy life where I couldn’t stop living for myself. Now I have a new centre in my life – Christ. Now everything must be about Him, what His plans are, His business, His will. In Christ we are created “to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them." Ephesians 2:10 (BBE). If I do these works that God made ready for me, I get a joy and peace that nobody can take from me. These works give meaning to my life.
An answer to life’s mysteries
The more I’m cleansed from sin and self-life, the deeper and more unshakeable my joy becomes. It’s written about Jesus: “You love justice and hate evil. Therefore, O God, your God has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” Hebrews 1:9 (NLT). The more I love to do what is right, and hate what is evil, the more unshakeable my joy becomes.
“But this must be the answer to the mystery of life!” you may say. That is exactly what it is. Imagine being able to live in this “evil” world with a deep and unshakeable peace which makes me 100% satisfied with my situation in life, with my fellow man and whatever may come on my way. No wonder the gospel is called the Glad News!