It seems that in this world, everything has a price tag attached to it. You know how people say that the best things in life are free? I don't agree with it all the time. Sure we can enjoy life, relationships, blessings, our jobs or anything in this world, but only because someone paid the full price for it so you wouldn't have to. That someone is Jesus.

What is the one thing that brings you most joy as a believer? It could be your church community, your family or even your profession. All these things that we enjoy come only because the price has been paid. Isaiah 53:5 tells us, "But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed" (ESV).

Everyone is looking for happiness, and God wants us to find it in Him because only in Him can we find joy that lasts. Romans 5:3 tells us, "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance" (ESV). Imagine what kind of lasting and unspeakable joy we can receive now through Christ that even in the midst of suffering and trial, joy would still abound!

But this unfathomable and amazing joy cannot exist apart from God. Anything that exists apart from God is sin, and while sin brings enjoyment for the time being, it never lasts. True joy and complete happiness comes only with a life lived holy and pleasing to God because only then can we exist in the presence and blessings of God.

And while we cannot work our way back into the presence and blessings of God, Jesus could and Jesus did. Ephesians 1:3 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (ESV). Because of who Christ is and what He has done, we can now enjoy happiness and joy that comes only through God.

We now have full access to happiness as we believe in Jesus and His finished work, but let us never think that happiness came for free. Happiness and joy came with a heavy price tag: it took the life of God's only Son to receive it. God paid the ultimate price so that you would be able to live a life abounding in joy—a life eternal ruled by the joy and peace that come through Christ alone.