Articles
Joy in Philippians
As I study the epistle to the Philippians, I struggle to quantify this “joy” and “rejoicing” that Paul experienced so frequently and perpetually. I’ve concluded for the time being that the difference between this “joy” and what we call “happiness” is as vast a distance as earth from heaven. “Happiness” is purely relative to our external circumstances, but “joy” is cultivated despite it.
This “joy” in which Paul was absorbed was independent of his imprisonment (Phil 1:12), unobstructed by selfish preachers wishing to cause him distress (Phil 1:18), regardless of his need to postpone heaven (Phil 1:22-26), unrestricted by the weaknesses of the Philippians (Phil 2:1-4; 4:2-3), indifferent to personal sacrifices and suffering (Phil 2:17-18), unhampered by personal losses (Phil 3:4-8), separate from his past mistakes (Phil 3:12-14), unimpeded by false brethren (Phil 3:2, 18-19), uninhibited by his financial circumstances (Phil 4:11-13), and notwithstanding the failure of brethren (Phil 4:15-17).
Perhaps the difficulty in defining such "joy" is because we attempt to do it through fleshly lenses and not heavenly ones (Col 3:1-4). It is only when we are completely taken captive and wholly consumed by a cause greater than ourselves to the extent that we lose ourselves in it that we will experience this “joy” as Paul experienced it. And to lose ourselves in Jesus Christ is exactly the self-denial that our Lord both taught and authenticated on the cross.
