I made a note in my Bible of a comment someone said a long time ago that has always stuck with me…You can’t change your heart but you can change your mind. God won’t change your mind but He can change your heart. That statement has continued to roll around every time I start thinking about “joy.”

When you ponder the difference between “joy” and “happiness” it is always a contrast between “eternal” and “temporal.” But I often forget that while that’s true, it is also about choice. Paul points that out in his letter to the Philippians…

Phil 1:3-4 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy…

Paul not only made a choice to remember his fellow believers, he made that choice with “joy.” How did he get to that place? He was able to make his request with joy because he knew and could stand on God’s promise…

Phil 1:6 …being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 

And that “good work” goes right back to that note in my Bible… You can’t change your heart but you can change your mind. God won’t change your mind but He can change your heart. 

Paul was of “one mind” and he knew that God is no respecter of persons, and that promise is true for every one of us. Therefore, the bottom line is that as we are challenged to change our thinking and stand on the Word of God (Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…), His response is the cleansing and changing of our heart, which is a work that He has begun in us and has promised to complete.

Solomon summed it up … Prov 23:7 (a) For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…  When we think on Him and His sacrifice and all that He has promised us, we can’t help but be like Paul and “choose” to rejoice!