Ingredients for the Joy Cake

Well, it’s the week after Christmas and days before the calendar flips to a new year. We are into winter regardless of the temperature and for many folks it is a dreary time of year. Presents have been opened, decorations will soon be stowed away, the daylight is short, and a new year looms just days away. The hype that made many happy a few days ago has wilted in the wind.

Being happy does not necessarily make us joyful. Happiness depends on a happening and when the happening ceases many get the mulligrubs. Joy is a peaceful and deep contentment that does not sway like the happiness barometer. Joy and her twin sister Peace swing from the same tree.

What are the ingredients to the Joy Cake? Here are the ingredients to the Joy Cake in my opinion.

PURPOSE
Joy requires a purpose that goes beyond the things of earth. Humans are spiritual beings destined to have a relationship with God. I believe we were purposed to be born before the world was spoken into creation. If you can entertain the thought that you came into being because God dreamed-you-up before He formed Adam, then you can understand you have an eternal purpose.

You were conceived in the heart and mind of God before your mother smiled back at your father. If you latch onto that thought you can have joy regardless of the circumstances.

LOVE
Every person yearns to be loved and to love. It is one of the basic emotional and spiritual needs of mankind. Joy becomes real when we are in an environment of genuine love regardless of the circumstances of riches or lack. If riches brought joy, then Hollywood and Wall Street would not need as many psychiatrists as they have.

We know God loves us because the Bible tells us so and He proved it by sending His Son.

RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
It is one thing to believe in God and quite another to have a vibrant relationship with the One who made Heaven and Earth. To be known by God and to know God in an intimate way completes the recipe for joy on so many levels. Personally, I do not believe you can have indescribable joy unless you have a true and personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus.

I’m sure you may want to add more ingredients to your Joy Cake recipe. I like to keep my recipes simple just like my Mama’s southern biscuits of self-rising flour, shortening (lard if you are a purist), and buttermilk. There’s just something special about three ingredients. I’m a Triune believer and often a triune cook.

So just remember, God conceived you with a purpose. God proved His love for you by sending Jesus to die for you. In His Word, He said He wanted a relationship with you, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4 NKJV).

You can put icing on your cake if you like. Some of my favorite cakes have no icing; they are just good in themselves. I love a good pound cake or old skillet cake with no icing on it; accompanied with a hot, strong cup of coffee.

Rejoice and slice off a piece of Joy Cake. It will keep you smiling through life’s ups and downs.

1 Peter 1:6-9 NKJV
(6) In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
(7) that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
(8) whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
(9) receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.

Yours on the Journey,

Harry L. Whitt