in the new american standard Bible, the word "joy" appears 211 times throughout the Old and New Testaments. the words "happy" and "happiness" occur a combined 14 times, all in the Old Testament. let that sink in for a moment - in our most accurate modern translation, the words "happy" and "happiness" do not appear in the New Testament. Matthew 10:38, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, and Luke 14:27 all quote Christ as stating that if a person does not take up their cross, they cannot follow Christ. the first three passages of this quartet follow this verse with Jesus concluding that one must lose ones life for the sake of Christ in order to find it.
James 1:2 instructs us to "consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." two verses later, in James 1:4, we find that the purpose of considering all things joy is that we may be "perfect and complete, lacking nothing." the Greek word for complete or finished is teleios, an Aristotelian concept indicating a final end, or an aim. Aristotle believed that the essence of any object consisted in its telos, and this jibes with the Biblical claim made by James Alphaeus in the aforementioned epistle. our essential nature, as Christians, resides not in what we are now, but rather in the perfect end towards which we are traveling. as James states, this end can only be attained by various trials. this fits perfectly with Christ's statements in the synoptic gospels in the previous paragraph - we must take up our cross in order to find our true life.
Hebrews 12:2 speaks of "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." this passage again confirms a movement towards an end of pure joy, a finished work, a telos towards which Christ Himself moved - and we are to take up our cross and follow Him. none of these verses say a single word about ease. in fact they state the opposite: the road is hard and the cross painful. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:18 that "the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."
from these verses, i would make the claim that the true Christian life, by any Biblical definition, is not easy, nor happy. it is, however, joyful. this lack of ease and happiness does not necessarily relate to our external life. as Tozer notes in The Pursuit of God, Abraham was an incredibly wealthy man, yet possessed nothing in his heart - God was his sole inheritance. thus the importance of the almost-sacrifice of his son Isaac, freeing Abraham from possessiveness towards even the fulfillment of God's solemn promise.
when Christ states in Matthew 6:33 to "seek first the kingdom of God," the word for "kingdom" is basileia, literally meaning "rule" or "reign." while Christ's reign over our hearts is not the basis for salvation (His atonement on the cross is the basis), it is the central focus of our spiritual lives. We must seek to let God alone be king in our hearts, and all other things shall be added unto us.
the question is, then, why do we not see a recognition of the seriousness of these Biblical claims in our modern churches? our "best life" (whether now or later) consists in the simple yet incredibly difficult act of taking up our cross and following Christ. the redemptive act is finished, we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone by his bloody atonement, but we must "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" as Paul states in Philippians 2:12. i would argue that the claim made by these scriptures is not taken seriously in modern church.
the triviality with which the Christian life is treated in the modern charismatic church is difficult to pin down. it exists not in creeds, or mission statements, or explications of vision. if it did exist in those things, the pettiness would be obvious and render the creeds useless. this triviality resides most prominently in the way we conduct our lives from moment to moment. it is the mold which spoils the daily bread. it is the seemingly slight shift of focus from relationship with the Godhead for the sole purpose of knowing Him to doing, being, changing, acting. it is a shift from the eternal to the temporal, from the infinite to the daily. this is not to say the daily isn't important - but the focus is on the telos towards which Christ guides us, the eternal submission to His infinite love and authority.
practically this shows itself by the organizational church's tendency towards busyness. there is always another program which needs personnel, another monthly emphasis or series or life-changing strategy. as soon as an annual conference is concluded, promo ads begin to run for next year's conference. stillness is not an option. sober yet joyful reflection upon the character of the Godhead is whitewashed with seven steps to a better you. kingdom building is redefined as the expansion of a cultural movement which in fact doesn't influence popular culture whatsoever. Christ is lost in self-betterment. influence is defined by attendance, yet Christ is mentioned only rarely outside of the worship meeting and indeed mentioned rarely within it. the vision of a monarchal pastor supersedes individual calling, and many pursuits must be sanctioned by and operate within the church hierarchical structure. the fallen and humble individual's relationship with the triune God is glossed over, and any real influence, cultural change, or true significance is lost.
the solution to this is for our churches to start preaching the gospel of Christ, a la John 3:16. when we turn our eyes upon Jesus, as the hymnist sings, "the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace." moving from a church and self-focused Christianity to a Christ-centred Christianity is no easy task. it requires us to take up our cross and follow Him. the alternative is to continue in our impotence, thinking we have influence and significance. the alternative is to never leave the four walls of the church with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ, to allow our candles to be hidden. when we carry our cross, it cannot be to the altar, it must be out the doors and into the streets. that is where Christ spent His time and labor. why do we think we can do differently?
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