Photo and Commentary ©2023 by Maylan Schurch
Sabbath, April 15, 2023
This past Wednesday I happened to stroll past this car, and immediately turned back to get a photo of it. Usually, but not always, window-stickers seem to be positioned so that the words or sentiments on the left side referred to what the driver thinks, while the other side’s comments are the passenger’s. If’s that’s the case here, the driver urges that we be happy, while the passenger exhorts us to shoot for joy.
Just for the fun of it, I Googled “What’s the difference between happy and joyful?” And I immediately discovered that a lot of people have weighed in with their responses. There are even charts which compare the two emotions side-by-side. A good summary is the following, credited to Compassion International: “Joy is an inner feeling. Happiness is an outward expression. Joy endures hardship and trials and connects with meaning and purpose. A person pursues happiness but chooses joy.”
Both “happy” and “joyful” are Bible words, both in the Old and New Testaments. When Jesus speaks the “Blessed are” Beatitudes in Matthew 5, He’s using the word for “happy,” and when James urges us to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience,” he uses the Greek word chara.
For four Bible truths about joy, click the following link.