The Fight For RadianceSample

Do I Need to be Happy All the Time to be Radiant?

Does the Biblical description of radiance– “to beam with joy” mean we are supposed to be upbeat and backslapping happy all the time? Should we smile continually? Must our proverbial glasses always be full? Or can we be serious and introverted? Because even on our best days, there are some who are far from beaming and bubbly.

Let’s not confuse personal disposition with spiritual condition.

Sophia, our adopted daughter from Ethiopia, has a joyful disposition. Recently, she forgot her lunch at school, but when asked about her day, she gave this evaluation: “It was awesome, Mom. Well, I didn’t get to eat, but the day was great!” That’s my Sophia. Cheerful optimism is her natural personality. God bless the Sophia’s of the world! I’m glad I get to live with one.

But what about those of us who are not naturally bubbly? How about the serious more introverted personalities? Can a person be radiant—shining, lightened and beaming with an inner joy AND have a personality more serious than a heart attack?

Absolutely.

In his book, THE LAST BATTLE, C. S. Lewis penned it this way, “There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious.” Scripture seems to line up with this sentiment.

This kind of happiness comes exclusively from the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 1:6; Romans 14:17). Joy is an emotion neither you nor I can achieve by ourselves. It doesn’t mean that we meet every day delirious and carefree, like my Sophia. New Testament biblical joy is more of a calm delight, a confidence and a hope. We could say joy is feeling a calm delight in who God is and who you are because of Him; being confident that He can be trusted with your life.

Radiance is simply the physical evidence of you and me taking God at His Word. It’s the visual display of the story He is writing of your life—of sin triumphed by His grace (a calm delight)—and what He is able to do with a life and personality like yours (confidence and hope).

This is a happiness that entices us to leave the mundane offerings of the world. May we become serious-minded women who beam with joy from every personality, in every home, on every street and corner of the universe. Let’s become radiant women—telling the world with our faces that our God can be trusted.