What is a mirage of joy?

This is when we pursue joy outside God’s jurisdiction, when we lean on our own understanding to plan and also execute our plans. The Bible says trust in God and do not lean on your own understanding.

Back in the day when we were young and we were traveling during the sunny season on the road, and while looking forward to the ground, it felt like there was water on the ground, and I always looked forward to seeing us drive over the water, but it never happened, and all I could see is that we could not reach the water even though it kept showing that there was water on the road.

Many Christians today will go the extra mile to reach for joy, find peace, find happiness to the utmost, but to no avail because all they think and see as joy ends up as a mirage. Their belief is to achieve their goal through their pursuit, but what they end up with is an illusion because they are looking for joy where there is no joy. They are looking for happiness and end up with sorrow.

Some also have been tricked and convinced that the joy they are longing for is in a society, occultic group. Some believe to find their joy in certain drugs, and unfortunately, after joining this society or starting drugs or alcoholism, the end result was not what they were looking for.

They become so addicted and caught up that they could not come out of it, which eventually makes their end worse than the beginning. Today we see many people who smile and laugh when they are outside but cry when they are inside because the joy they contain is not the real joy but an illusion.

That said, joy found outside Christ, regardless of how satisfying we want to describe it, I would say it is a futility. Amen.

From where we read, a warning was extended to those who are rich, who are deriving joy from their riches to weep and howl for the miseries coming upon them. And the question I ask myself is, how come, in the midst of their riches, their end result will be to weep and howl?

Why wouldn’t their money save them from the miseries to come? Why wouldn’t their gold and silver save them from the miseries to come? Why would their wealth become corroded and corrupted?

And that was because the source of their joy depended on their corrupted riches. In other words, your wealth is a mirage if not in Christ. Your gold and silver is a mirage if you do not know Jesus. The treasures you heaped up will end up as a mirage if you do not know Jesus.

Many are living their lives like the rich man the Bible talks about in Luke 12:13-21 who found joy in his gatherings, who pulled down his barn to build a bigger one so as to prepare for his tomorrow.

The Bible says he said, “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.'” But God said to him, “Fool! Tonight your soul shall be required of you.” So all that he thought he had gathered together that gave him joy ended up as a mirage of joy for him.

When we set a high standard for our joy outside Jesus, it ends up as vague. When we plan for our future and become joyful because of our accomplishment and neglect acknowledging the one who made it possible, it ends up a mirage.

You must understand that if God did not make it happen for you, that which you are boasting about, that which gives you joy wouldn’t have been a cause for joy, and that is why many joyous celebrations end up a mirage. That is why you must not look for your joy outside Christ.

Also, when we look for other ways to become happy and joyful when we ought to derive our strength from the joy of the Lord, that ends up as a mirage and also brings weakness and sorrow of heart to us. No wonder Nehemiah advised the people that the joy of the Lord is what must be their strength.

That said, what you see as freedom may be unfulfilled until you shift your focus off it and center your focus on Jesus.

It is a mirage when you believe money is all you need to find joy, when you believe drugs is all we need to find our joy, when we believe partying like pagans is what we need to find joy

When we believe stooping so low to the level of lust is what will give us joy, when we believe in functions that do not honor Jesus are the functions we need to go to so as to have joy.

It is a mirage when you think your money can buy you eternal joy, when you think destroying others for your own good is what would give you joy

It is a mirage when your yearnings are filled with iniquities

Solomon saw this world as vanity and mirage because he tasted it all and realized it is all mirage and all he could end up with is to fear God with all your heart

That said, Everything is a mirage of joy without Jesus. You can never be satisfied outside Him. That thing that gives you joy outside Christ may look like joy, but it is a mirage.

But when we eventually focus, depend, and acknowledge God in all things, then mirage will become a reality. Expectations will no longer be cut off. Isaiah 35:7-9 will become our testimony.

We must not be deceived with temporary pleasure when we have permanent joy awaiting us in Christ Jesus. I am a living testimony that every other thing is a mirage outside Jesus. Sometimes it will look as if it is giving you what your heart desires, but it is a mirage.