I was reading Philippians 4 and it occurred to me that you can’t know true joy and thankfulness without Christ. In secular culture we can be happy sure and thankful for the good things we receive, but it’s impossible to truly have joy without humility and selflessness… that faith in Christ is built upon.
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I’ve wondered about this too. I think people absolutely can feel happiness and even gratitude in a general sense without Christ, but what Paul talks about in Philippians feels like something deeper.
For me, the difference is that joy in Christ isn’t tied to circumstances. It’s that “even if everything around me is shaking, something in me is still held.” I don’t think we naturally get there through our own strength or mindset.
And you’re right about humility and selflessness. Without Christ reshaping our hearts, I don’t think we naturally drift toward those things. My own gratitude used to be very dependent on whether life was going well. But the more I know Christ, the more I notice joy showing up even in places that don’t look “joyful” from the outside.
So maybe people can experience forms of joy without Christ, but the rooted, unshakable kind Paul describes, that seems uniquely tied to Him.
I thought this was going to be my shortest response ever. “No.” {Laughing} However, the truth is yes. Sort of. I truly believe that the devil can indeed give you fortune and fame. Peace and comfort. He can, without a doubt, grant people “happiness” so that they will not seek true peace and true happiness with God and Jesus.
You see, the Devil is not some red-faced, horned head, tail wagging, pitchfork-wielding, demon straight out of a Hollywood horror movie. He is not a creature so hideous that you would run in terror if you saw him. He is “son of the morning.” He is as beautiful as “every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold.” Truth is, if he were to walk into a Church, many would fall and worship him, thinking he was Jesus Himself. He is what he is.
He IS very real. He is capable of many destructive things. He can ruin your Life if you let him. He works in the ways he knows, and the sin that brought him down in the first place is very much alive and well in this world. Pride. Think about this for a second. What was satan’s sin? Pride, greed, envy, desire for power.The desire to be God.
Look at the world. “He with the most toys at the end wins.” People will lie, cheat, steal, and even kill, for what? Pride, greed, envy, desire for power. The desire to be God. Mankind fell for pride, greed, envy, and desire for power. The desire to be God.
Let me try to explain it this way. Do you have two hundred-dollar bills? make it twenties? Let me see them. Put them in your hand and hold them out. Now I look at them and reach out and take this, one of the twenties, and I fold it and put it in my pocket. Thank you.
Go ahead and put the other back where you got it from. Now? I ask you this. Which one of the twenties do you think they are concerned with? Which one do you think they are thinking about? Yup. This one. {patting my pocket}.
The devil is the same way. You are the bill. You are either in the devil’s pocket or you are in God’s. There is no other choice. There are no other pockets. Simply put, you either belong to the devil or you belong to God.
We are born into the world. We are born into sin. We are born into the pocket, possession, and control of the devil. Sorry. Just the Truth. Satan, the devil, is the god of this world.
“In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4
Comfort, ease, and happiness can be powerful tools for the devil to use.
Peter
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No, I do not thank you can experience true joy or true thankfulness without Christ. Scripture is clear that real joy is a work of the Holy Spirit ~Galatians 5:22. If someone does not belong to Christ, they do not have the Spirit ~Romans 8:9. That means whatever “joy” they feel is temporary and tied to circumstances, not the deep, steady joy that comes from God.
The same is true for thankfulness. Real thankfulness acknowledges God as the One who gives every good gift ~James 1:17. Scripture says unbelievers “did not honor Him as God or give thanks” ~Romans 1:21. They can feel appreciative toward life, but they are not directing gratitude to the One who deserves it.
True joy and true thankfulness flow from a heart that has been made new by Christ. Without Him, people can have moments of happiness, but not the lasting joy or the God-centered gratitude that Scripture describes.
I can look at it that way, too. Scripture does show that people can have a kind of temporary happiness apart from Christ, but it is not the real joy that comes from the Spirit ~Galatians 5:22. And yes, the devil can use comfort, ease, and pleasure to keep people blind. It seems many people I see seem happy but they are not saved. The Bible says he is the god of this world who blinds the minds of unbelievers ~2 Corinthians 4:4. So the point you’re making makes sense. What the world calls happiness can actually be a tool that keeps a person from seeking the only One who gives true peace and true joy. Thanks for the insight.
No, there is ZERO joy without God. That angel of light that is evil? There it is, with the idea that such a thing is possible. Evil, and this world, would chew you up, and spit you out, if it were not for God. Anyone want to walk around pre-flood? The thought of living through the tribulation bring a warm and fuzzy feeling? Remove God, and that is the joy that evil, and this world, will give you.