Christians Leap for Joy!

Jesus said that Christians are blessed when we are hated and insulted for our beliefs. In fact, Jesus makes a bold statement about the attitude we are to have toward being persecuted for our faith:

"Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven" (Luke 6:23).

Leaping for joy when we are persecuted, huh? Wow, how is that possible? It seems Jesus is going overboard...or is he?

Too many people let their happiness be dependant upon exterior circumstances. Jesus instructs that Christians are not to be this way. If I am able to detach myself from material things and physical circumstances, my happiness is no longer dependant upon those things. The Biblical teaching of self-denial is learning to find joy in God, not in situations and things.

C.S. Lewis gives a helpful analysis of how Christians can "leap for joy" even when difficult days come:

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot image what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased" (The Weight of Glory, and Other Addresses. 1965).

The inner peace and joy that God offers pales in comparison to any joy that can be found in the externals of this life. Let us look for the "holiday at sea" that God offers us and stop finding joy in "mud pies."