The joy of the Lord is not that you are happy when you go to church or when you’re singing hymns or when you’re quoting Bible verses. It is the joy that will come one day when you finally see face-to-face, clear as crystal, that for which you were made. That secret longing that you have carried with you like a wound your whole life long will be met.
… Our quest for joy, our broken, messed-up, obsessive, endless pursuit of joy tells us we were made for the Joy-Bringer.
– John Ortberg
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain, Skeptical Christian 