[OBW]

The question I have is this. Where do we get a promise of experience?

I do not find "joy" in the Bible to always be about an emotional high or lofty experience. In fact, some of the places joy is used it is evident that there is not an emotional high. Rather there is a kind of satisfaction in the realization of the truth. And the truth about our active (as opposed to theoretical understanding of) participation in the kingdom here on earth.

My concern is that the joy is the result of something else, not the thing that should be sought. And you haven't actually said to seek for joy. But joy should be the response to the knowledge of our participation in the kingdom more than something we work up to have an experience. You don't seem to exercise anything to get joy. You get joy from belief and from experience.

There is mention of joy in the Holy Spirit (not from the exercise of my spirit). Paul refers to himself and his companions as helpers of the Corinthians joy.

The thing is that in some places joy is somewhat insisted upon, not stated as something to get.

And the more I read, the more I see things like joy as a state of being rather than an emotional experience. And I find too many of the things that we seek after to be viewed as the goal of seeking them rather than either the result of doing and being as we should or being in such a state.

I cannot see myself as a regular participant in one of the more liturgical groups, but there is something about their regular focus on Christ and his work rather than us and our experience and desires that is very appealing. And the problem may be that we in the western world have lost sight of the true core of living the faith because we don't really have adversity. We live such grand lives that we don't think we have joy unless it is foaming out of the cup like the virtual explosion that occurs when Mentos are dropped into a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.

We seek a kind of experience and joy that is beyond what an impoverished, worn-out person scraping to survive in the 3rd world could imagine. No, most of us are not seeking a nearly Pentecostal experience, but it is generally about our positive experience that seems so disconnected from the purpose of our salvation and the resultant living.

We rightly point at the prosperity gospel as seeking a sugar daddy. And somewhat similarly at those who think that America will be so blessed if we can force public schools to allow prayer and the gays and abortionists to be villains again. But are we doing the same thing at a lesser level when we seek some kind of experience through "spiritual" activity that is undertaken in the seeking of that experience rather than gaining whatever it is we do from actually participating in the kingdom in our daily lives.

Righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, not seeking joy through so-called spiritual activity.