True Joy

Let them shout for joy and be glad, who favor my righteous cause.

Psalm 35:27

I read a quote once from a man who said, “I think I must be the happiest man in the world! I have never met anyone who has had as much fun as I have had.” The words were not spoken by a playboy or a globetrotter or an adventurer. They were spoken by a Christian missionary by the name of Frank Laubach, whose life was dedicated to the cultivation of literacy among the backward people of the world. He never went searching for happiness—he just found it as a by-product of his search for something more important.

Dr. Laubach described delighted men and women weeping for joy when they discovered how to read. “No other work in the world could possibly have brought me so much happiness,” he said. He didn’t live with prosperity or worldly success, but he found happiness. True joy is a by-product, not a goal.