March
4
2018

The Contagious Power of Joy

The Contagious Power of Joy

For years William Lane Craig has been regarded as one of the world’s most powerful defenders of the Christian faith. In On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2010), Craig recalls the struggles he experienced during high school. He says that in those days he “felt deeply the meaninglessness of life and the despair that it brings.”

Despite coming from a loving home, his family didn’t attend church and were not Christian. But during his high school years he began to search for answers to the big questions: “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” To find the answers he started attending a large church, but he didn’t find the answers there. Instead, he found other high school students who claimed to be Christians on Sunday but who lived for popularity the rest of the week. This really bothered him. He felt that he was better than they were because they were pretending to be what they weren’t. Concluding that they were all hypocrites, he grew bitter toward the institutional church.

Soon his skepticism spread to include all people. “Nobody is really genuine,” he thought. “They’re all just a bunch of phonies, holding up a plastic mask to the world, while the real person is cowering down inside, afraid to come out and be real” (Italics his). He came to despise people and not want anything to do with anyone.

Despite his growing anger and disillusionment, he knew deep down that he wanted to love and be loved by others. But this made him just as big a phony as everyone else, for while he was pretending not to need people, deep down he knew he really did need them. This made him angry with himself for his own hypocrisy.

One day, out of sheer desperation, he decided to talk to Sandy, a girl in his German class who, as Craig notes, was “always so happy it just makes you sick” (Italics his). He decided to ask her why she was so happy all the time and she responded, “Well, Bill, it’s because I’m saved.” When he asked what that meant she said, “I know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.” “I go to church,” he answered. “That’s not enough, Bill,” she said. “You’ve got to have Him really living in your heart.” “What would He want to do a thing like that for?” he snorted. “Because he loves you, Bill.”

He wasn’t expecting that answer. He was full of anger and hate, yet Sandy insisted that God loved him. It set him on a quest to find the truth. He read through the New Testament and became captivated with Jesus and found in him an authenticity that was different from his followers. Sandy invited him to meet other Christians and he found in them people who were truly following Jesus. For the next six months he attended Christian meetings, read Christian books, and sought God in prayer. “Finally I just came to the end of my rope and cried out to God. I cried out all the anger and bitterness that had built up inside me, and at the same time I felt this tremendous infusion of joy, like a balloon being blown up and blown up until it was ready to burst! I remember I rushed outdoors—it was a clear Midwestern summer night, and you could see the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. As I looked up at the stars, I thought, God! I’ve come to know God!” (Italics his).

Thankfully Sandy was letting her light shine. The contagious joy of the Lord was radiating from her and God used it to help Bill Craig come to faith in Christ. Sometimes we make witnessing hard. Sandy reminds us that when we truly have the joy of the Lord then he will use that joy to draw others to himself. Then all we have to do is tell them the reason we have joy.

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