Well Versed In Happiness is the next chapter in the book and is of course out of step with the focus on joy. The author relates a story behind Ben Franklin saying that happiness in this life depends on internal things more than external things and that there is such a thing as a happy constitution. The world tells us happiness comes from circumstances, wealth, fame, age, and all the things that happen to us. Ben Franklin is telling us that our attitude sets whether something happening makes us happy or not. If I find a dime, I am happy because I chose to be happy. If someone else finds a dime, they might be irritated it was not a gold coin in perfect condition worth a million dollars. Attitude.
The intent therefore is to not mix up happiness with joy, but to define the source for joy as Christ and the source for happiness as our expectation of circumstances. And further the intent is to make sure we know the best way to retain access to joy is to have a plethora of ways to keep it on your mind. In his mind this is memorization.
Three big pieces here. One is to learn verses by heart. The idea is to spend so much time with the verses that they fil our heart and we have a deep foundation to support our living joyfully. The second is to quote it frequently. As our goal is to be a light unto the world, the ability to quote joy filled verses within our conversations with those around us, helps us fulfill this mission. A handful of short verses would probably be great, so the author gives us lists and discussion of why he picked them to help us chose and reuse.
The final piece is so that we can think about it. I watched a movie once called The Book of Eli. If you have not seen it and do not want it spoiled, skip to the next paragraph. In the story a man has a book and is on a journey to get it somewhere. The world is full of evil and his mission takes hard actions and eventually the “book” is stolen. It turns out the “book” was a braille Bible and was a decoy. The man had memorized the entire Bible and he was going to a place he could recite it and a group could begin printing Bibles again to share God’s Word. The man had memorized the whole Bible and could recall all of it. He could think about it without having to look it up and he could spend time in God’s word at any time. I have heard rumors people can memorize it all and I think that is great.
One idea is to pick a verse a month and to quote it aloud morning and night until it is a part of you. And then of course add another. Psalm 100:2, Proverbs 17:22, Romans 15:13, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalm 118:24, Philippians 4:4, John 15:11, John 17:13, 1 Peter 1:8, Psalm 51:12, and a slew of others for good measure.
This morning in our accountability group we had a good discussion over a theological issue that has the potential to split churches and maybe even families. The application that brought up the question brought me to ask, “What is your purpose in that activity and does the theological question even matter to achieving that purpose?” God has some hard and fast rules. God has some rules that may be difficult to apply to very specific circumstances. Christianity is not ruled by a legalistic set of rules, but by the concept of love God and love your neighbor. The joy we receive from Christ allows us to love others and decide when a thorny theological issue is attacking either our relationship with God or with others or not at all. My favorite topic on this is that I can eat a bacon cheeseburger, but I cannot boil a goat in its mother’s milk. One is a pagan ritual and the other is enjoying a combination of foods that go well together.
To have a live full of joy, take the time to learn what the Bible tells us about joy. To live a life full of happiness, decide those things that can make you happy. To live a life chasing God’s own heart, then study the scriptures and learn how God leads you. But do not try to define joy or happiness for others or how God leads others. Every person is unique and every circumstance is unique and every life can be full of joy and happiness.