I’ve had a thought (yes only one, I’m a simple guy) bouncing around in my head for a few days now about the difference between someone who is content and someone who has joy. Both words are used regularly without much thought to their real meanings, as most words today are, so lets look at their definitions.

Merriam-Webster defines contentment: to appease the desires of or to limit (oneself) in requirements, desires, or actions. That second definition I found very interesting. There was a period where I had no direction, no hope and no real challenges. I was taking a class, I had some work freelancing and on the weekend I would drink with my friends. I felt like I was doing the minimum required me by society. I wasn’t gonna do less, I wasn’t gonna do more. I was limiting myself by being content. 

However I was very unhappy, and as a result i had no goals, no motivation and no passion. It took an extraordinary effort to get up in the morning. The thought of tomorrow wasn’t appealing at all and when asked about my plans for the future, my hope was that I wouldn’t be around. I wasn’t suicidal I just didn’t care to live.

When I came to the Lord, He slowly started to change my perceptions. He changed my source of happiness from my own contentment to His overflowing joy. The dictionary describes joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight. Living for God is not easy and at times it can be downright painful, however I had His joy. My perspective  was changed. Instead of focusing on the hard time i was going thru I would see the people who cared for me and supported me. Instead of wanting to have what someone else had I saw all the things God had already blessed me with.

The result of my shift from content to joyful was I found purpose which gave me motivation, which found my passion, which has set goals for me that have me waking up in the morning eager to see how God will use me to meet them.

So, ask yourself are you content or do you have Gods unwavering unbeatable joy driving you?