Welcome to a new week on the Aspastor John podcast.

Today's question comes to us from Rasmus, listener from Denmark.

Hello Pastor John, I love the truth that the fullest joy possible is to be found in God.

But there's one angle to it that I don't quite understand yet.

My question is, when is this true?

If I choose not to deny myself and follow Jesus, would I have more joy in this life?

Or in other words, can we say that the Christian life is the most joyful life here and now?

Or do we, as Christians, deny ourselves the greatest possible joy in this life for

greater joy in the life to come?

There are verses pointing in this direction, such as 1 Corinthians 15, 19, if in Christ

we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

But there are also verses talking about the joy of God being greater than the riches

on earth, such as Psalm 4, verse 7.

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when they're grain and wine abound.

Pastor John, what would you say?

There are two things that we need to grasp about Christian joy in this fallen world that

I think are going to help resolve his paradox that he sees.

First, Paul calls our joy in Galatians 5.22, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy.

Christian joy is qualitatively different from the joy and happiness of the world.

The joy of the Christian is rooted in our spiritual taste and spiritual sight, worked

by the Holy Spirit of the all-satisfying beauty of God in Christ, especially in the great

...