I was perusing YouTube when I came across John Anderson interviewing Louise Perry.

For those who don’t know her, she is (along with Mary Harrington) a feminist who feels that feminism needs to rethink the sexual revolution and modern feminist views on motherhood and marriage. You can hear more from both these women on John Anderson’s podcast and the Triggernometry podcast, both of which I highly recommend.

Anyways, Louise Perry made a statement that was very profound. She said, “Parenting is no fun but all joy.” And I thought, “How true.” As parents we have to be the bad guy that disciplines our children. We have to tell them no when they beg to have ice cream for supper and force them to have baths and proper bedtimes. Added to all there are so many things we have to deny ourselves to meet our kids needs. We can no longer go to all the parties we want or change our lives on a whim. In short, we deny ourselves pleasure and fun. But we have the true joy of seeing our children become wonderful adults who are great additions to society.

Then I realized that her statement applies to everything worthwhile in life.  Going to the gym and dieting is no fun. It is far more pleasurable to sit on the couch with a Big Mac, but then you would miss out on the joy of losing weight and being in shape. Mastering a martial art, or writing, or getting an education are all hard work, in other words no fun. However, accomplishing them gives a great deal of joy.

The same can be said of the Christian life. We are called to pick up our cross and follow Jesus into dying, but we are also called to rejoice and be joyful. We need to remember that such things as pleasure and fun are ephemeral that require a constant jolt to be maintained, and constant indulgence lead to heart ache. I think that’s why Christians are often leery of seeking happiness. Not because they want to be sorrowful, but because they see so much pain resulting in the pursuit of happiness through pleasure. How often do we see someone justifying their evil with the statement, “God wants me to be happy.” But God doesn’t call us to be happy. He calls us to be holy and, in that holiness, to find joy despite the temporal pain.

Recall that joy comes after love in the fruits of the Spirit, and joy can only come through love, and true love requires self-denial, and self-denial isn’t fun.

#Joy