Russ and I just returned from a Writing Workshop with Bob Goff, a New York Times best seller author and passionate follower of Jesus. After being with Bob for three days, Russ brilliantly described him as a combination of Socrates and Santa Claus. 

Bob Goff has astonishing wisdom, boundless enthusiasm, and unbelievable generosity in loving others. He takes Jesus’ command to love others very literally, and dedicates each day to doing just that—whether the “others” are friends, strangers or evil arch-enemies. Bob is visibly full of joy and laughs a lot! 

At the end of the workshop, we were asked to share aloud one goal we were going to implement for a year. After each one shared, Bob’s wife and another guest speaker pinned a medal on each of us. As we left the building, we were greeted by the entire staff holding up laminated posters that contained our names with encouraging words. They also gave us high fives and blew bubbles all around us. It was a celebratory event—even though we had not done anything but show up and soak in the atmosphere of un-conditional acceptance. They were simply confident we could follow Jesus’ way of becoming and doing love in our own unique ways.

This type of joyful, heavenly atmosphere reached into the deepest regions of our souls and restored us. It is also part of what Jesus asked us to pray for. Our Father wants to bring His kingdom to earth (Mt 6:10), and there is fullness of joy in His presence (Ps 16:11). If we have His presence dwelling within us, shouldn’t others be able to similarly experience His joy just being with us? 

I’ve been asking the Lord other questions about joy. For example, is it really possible for every decision I make that is aligned with God to bring me joy—even if it’s going to be a hard decision to walk out? If Jesus went to the cross for the joy held before Him, the answer must be yes. This means it’s up to me to choose the way of joy and anticipate He has something joyful to show me or share with me about what we’re doing together. This means I can access His joy at any moment. This is why Paul could say, “Rejoice!” from a demon-infested prison. Paul was rejoicing in God’s joy, not his circumstances. 

I hope and pray we will choose to develop a culture of experiencing the deep abiding joy that comes from intimacy with God. Let’s become experts in sniffing out where joy is hiding and then bring it out for others to share. Joy is a gift Jesus purchased for us to enjoy all year long for the rest of our lives.