“Reach Out for Joy,” For the Strength of Youth, Feb. 2024.
Come, Follow Me
Reach Out for Joy
Lasting joy is found in living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Because of His perfect love for you, Heavenly Father is eager to share His perfect joy with you—now and in eternity. That has been His motivation in everything from the beginning, including His glorious plan of happiness and the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, they were in a state of innocence. They “[had] no joy, for they knew no misery,” and they could do “no good, for they knew no sin” (2 Nephi 2:23). So, as Lehi explained, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25; see also Moses 5:10–11).
In this fallen world, you learn the difference between good and evil by what you are taught and what you experience. You “taste the bitter, that [you] may know to prize the good” (Moses 6:55). Joy comes as you reach out for it by rejecting the bitter and increasingly cherishing and holding fast to the good.
Finding Joy
God does not force joy or happiness on you, but He teaches you how to find it. He also tells you where joy cannot be found—“wickedness [is not and] never was happiness” (Alma 41:10).
Lasting joy is found in keeping the commandments of God. His commandments, found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, are given by Him to bring you joy. They are not burdensome but burden lifting. If you fail for a time to keep the commandments, you can turn around, reject the bitter, and once again pursue the good through repentance, which is made possible by Jesus Christ through His atoning sacrifice (see Helaman 5:10–11).
Jesus said:
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
“These things I have spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:10–11).
This is what Lehi felt in his dream as he tasted the fruit of the tree of life, which represents the love of God. He said, “As I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy” (1 Nephi 8:12; see also 1 Nephi 11:21–23).
Lehi also revealed another way to experience joy. He said, “Wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of [the fruit] also” (1 Nephi 8:12).
Helping Others Find Joy
Through living the gospel, you can be “filled with joy” (Mosiah 4:3). But much of the joy in your life, both here and hereafter, will come when you look outward and seek to help family, friends, and others receive that same God-given joy and peace. This is the best way to show your love for God and for your neighbor (see Matthew 22:37–39).
As a young man, Alma sought joy in everything opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. After being rebuked by an angel, he intensely experienced “the bitter” and came to “the good” by repentance and the Savior’s abundant grace (see Mosiah 27:28–29). Years later, Alma declared to his son Helaman:
“Oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! …
“Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste. …
“Yea, and now behold, … the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors” (Alma 36:20, 24–25).
Alma also felt overwhelming joy when others had success in bringing souls unto Christ, so much that his soul was carried away with great joy (see Alma 29:14–16).
You can find the same joy as you love others with “the pure love of Christ” (Moroni 7:47; see also verse 48), share restored truth with them, and invite them to gather with God’s covenant people.
You Can Feel Joy Even When Life Is Hard
You should not be afraid that the trials and challenges you will inevitably face in mortality will prevent or destroy your joy. By striving to live the gospel, your challenges can be “swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38).
President Russell M. Nelson reminds us that joy played a role in the Savior’s suffering (see Hebrews 12:2). He said, “In order for Him to endure the most excruciating experience ever endured on earth, our Savior focused on joy!” This “included the joy of cleansing, healing, and strengthening us; the joy of paying for the sins of all who would repent; the joy of making it possible for you and me to return home—clean and worthy—to live with our Heavenly Parents and families.
“If we focus on the joy that will come to us, or to those we love, what can we endure that presently seems overwhelming, painful, scary, unfair, or simply impossible?”1
I encourage you to reach out for joy by embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping others do the same. On the gospel path, there is lasting joy in the journey and joy at the end. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the path of daily joy.