The Fruit of the Joy: Our Right Standing with a Caring Father
by Daniel Burton
Throughout the Bible, instances of joy constantly pair alongside difficult circumstances. Sometimes, these circumstances are hardships the world hurls at people. Other times, these instances are rooted in the discipline of God. Whatever the origin may be, the Spirit alive inside of us produces an outpouring of joy through any of these circumstances. Too often, we interchange joy and happiness, but as we have discussed before, the two are very different. Joy has nothing to do with our situation and everything to do with our standing with God. When our standing with God is absent, happiness is a cheap, counterfeit alternative to joy. We tend to think that our faith is faltering when things are not happy. Yet, biblically, the cause for our supposed “suffering” could be the refiner’s fire. It is not necessarily an indication that we are outside of the will of God but rather that God continually pursues us and draws us closer to Himself.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Joy In Our Right Standing
Throughout the course of writing this series on The Fruit of Joy, it has been difficult to pragmatically describe joy. The situations for joy are evident and clear in scripture; always. Yet, describing the difference between joy and happiness is subtle. 
Yet, the more I have dug into the scriptures and read through the commentaries, happiness is largely temporal and changing. We experience happiness in a moment where things go our way or we feel pleased. But, given time, happiness will fade as our soul longs for something deeper. Happiness can only serve as a temporary relief to a lack of joy. It is a counterfeit to the real thing. Happiness temporarily subdues mankind from our temporary situations that the world offers us.
Joy, on the other hand, is rooted solely in our right standing and relationship with God and Jesus secures our right standing on our behalf. Joy, then, becomes the expression of our connection to God. It is what fuels our ability to approach the throne room of God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). It drives us severe the sin and temptation from our lives no matter the cost. Joy is not temporal or related to any specific situation or fleshly pleasure. Joy is the outpouring and response to knowing that, through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our position and right standing are secured. We are not abandoned, forsaken, or forgotten but God adopts us as His child, giving us the same rights and privileges as if we were His own. This is joy: the ecstatic expression of the unending love of God poured out on us, in us, and through us. Nothing will be able to remove us from our right standing.
The Discipline of God is Cause For Joy
Our right standing with God is why James tells us we can consider trials of many kind a joy. 
The trials are a sign that God is moving in us and through us. The work of the Holy Spirit is often referred to as the refiners fire. It burns out the things that are not of Him and leaves us pure and righteous. When the refiners fire burns, it is a sign that God is with us and moving in us. Struggling through a sin? Take joy because this is a sign of the Holy Spirit refining your heart to desire the pure and righteous things. God does not leave us to dive further into our sins but instead rescues us and continues to guide us outward and closer to Him through His divine discipline.
Furthermore, we cannot downplay the idea that joy is rooted in the discipline of God. Whenever we face the discipline of God, the temptation is ever present to feel as if we did something to deserve it or that God is punishing us. Joy is rooted in our right standing with God and we are adopted as children of our Heavenly Father. Thus, God loves us as a good Father who disciplines His children. A good father disciplines His children but always out of love. When we receive the discipline of God, it is not a happy time, but it is incredibly worthwhile. We tend to think that our faith is faltering when things are not happy. Yet, as God disciplines you, take joy that our standing with God is secure and God continually purifies us as righteous.
For more in this series, check out The Fruit of the Spirit
