Thankfully, that is not the case with the fruits of the spirit as found in Galatians 5:22-23. Satisfaction is found in such things as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. These qualities work from the inside out. These are the spiritual formation issues that take root inside the followers of Jesus Christ that sustain them even when the conditions around them are being turned upside down. This is most noticeable so far as joy is concerned. I would rather have the joy of the Lord than the satisfactions of the world any day of the week. Here are the reasons why.

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First, joy comes as a result of the faith and trust that resides within me and not in relation to the material or sensual things going on around me. It is important that we talk about joy vs. happiness and pleasure during the Advent and Christmas seasons, because it is so easy even for us as Christians to get caught up in the shopping and materialistic observance of Christmas. We can so easily forget about the fact that the “glad tidings of great joy” spoken to the shepherds of Bethlehem by the angels of heaven was about the birth of a savior and not about the discounted prices at Wal-Mart or the luxury items available from the most fashionable boutique.

The joy of Christmas is about the love of God that sent a savior into our world to redeem us from the behaviors that constantly pull us away from God all the time. After all, the song does say “Joy to the world, the Lord is Come.” It does not say that Santa has come, or Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has come; the joy of Christmas is centered in the fact that the Lord has come. God is with us. Immanuel. Our joy is anchored in that knowledge. I may not receive any of the material gifts that so many people point to as the center of Christmas, but when I receive the Christ of Christmas I can find the joy that will forever elude those who are searching after satisfaction.

Second, the joy of the Lord is available to us even though none of us is deserving of God’s love. The gifts that God offers; love, joy, peace and the others are not reserved for those who have proven themselves deserving of God’s attention. They are the freely given and freely received signs of God’s amazing grace.

Last December, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said something that may not make much sense in the context in which he was speaking, but it actually made great sense from the perspective of Christian theology. A National Guardsman from Tennessee asked him why soldiers in Iraq had to dig through landfills to find the armor and bullet proof glass they needed in order to drive their military vehicles into dangerous combat zones? The question was not raised by someone who was trying to get out of military service. The question was asked by someone who was about to be deployed into a combat area and wanted the maximum amount of protection that the U.S. Army could and should provide. In explaining why the armor and bulletproof glass was not readily available Rumsfeld said, “You go to war with the army that you have, not with the army that you would like to have.”