Looking For Something You Already Have

I was voted worst driver in my high school class. I like to think that I earned that title, not because I had a driving problem, but a key problem. You see, I lost eleven sets of car keys in high school. Yes, eleven. I am a reliable person when it comes to the matters of the soul, but when it comes to matters of small things - forget about it.

Just as I was bragging that in my adulthood this was no longer a problem, I lost yet another set of car keys. Now that I think about it, I do recall something in scripture saying that pride comes before a fall. This is certainly true.

While my husband is patient and understanding, I desperately did not want to share with him that another set was gone. So, I took matters into my own hands. How hard is it to find a set of keys? I retraced my steps: I looked in my office, the car, the parking lot. I checked lost and founds and I talked to the manager at the store where I last had them. “Check the safe again,” I said. It just had to be there. Except, it wasn’t.

I was finally at the point where I had given up hope of ever reclaiming those keys when everything changed. One night after dinner, my husband and I were walking around outside with some friends. The chill in the air was a blessing that night because it made me stick my hands inside my pockets to keep warm. When I did, there it was - one, singular, black Toyota Camry car key. 

I had been looking for something I had the whole time.

I may have had the key in my pocket all along but it did me no good, because I didn’t have the ability access what I already possessed.

It wasn’t in the parking lot, it was with me.
It wasn’t in the floorboard of the car, it was with me.
It wasn’t in the lost and found, it was with me.

Are you searching for something “out there” that you already possess “in here”? I’m not talking about practical matters, I’m talking about matters of the soul. Attributes that the Holy Spirit has deposited within you, but that because you are distracted, busy, or hurting you have failed tap into.

I believe this to be true of joy. Joy came to you, and joy fills you.

When Jesus entered this world as a baby the angel said, “I bring you good news of great JOY which will be for all people” (Luke 2:10-11). Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave this promise, “My JOY may be in you and your JOY may be full” (John 15:11). He promised that the Holy Spirit would come and would fill you and “The fruit of the Spirit is....JOY” (Galatians 5:22).

Jesus came in joy, ascended in joy, and promised you joy through the power of the Holy Spirit. “When you fail to recognize the source of joy within you, you will go searching for it in all the wrong places without Him.”

You can look for joy in circumstances, but they will change.
You can look for joy in people, but they will disappoint.
You can look for joy in experiences, but they are fleeting.
You can look for joy in possessions, but when the newness fades emptiness sets in.

But joy found in Jesus, his constant presence with you, and the eternal life he offers never fades.

Receive this promise today, “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (I Peter 1:8-9).

You are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Does this mean life is perfect? Far from it. But Biblical joy is not found in the absence of problems, but the presence of God in the midst of your problems.

Joy is not a feeling. Joy is an action. Choose joy, because you already have it in you.