Afraid of Joy

by Dave Miller

Somewhere along the journey of following Jesus, many of us learn to live burdened but forget how to live blessed. We know His invitation by heart: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest… for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We believe it, yet when we finally begin to experience that lightness, when joy starts to break through the cracks, we grow uncomfortable. We hesitate. We almost feel guilty for being joyful.

For so long we’ve learned to associate joy with compromise. We chased pleasure in the wrong places and attached the feeling of happiness to the wrong things. So when God finally gives us true joy, the kind born out of grace, obedience, and abiding, we don’t know what to do with it. It feels foreign, maybe even dangerous. We spent so much time repenting of false joys that when real joy comes, we flinch as if it’s another temptation.

But joy isn’t a trap. It’s a testimony.

When we walk in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, the heavy weight of striving lifts. The soul finds rhythm again. Shoulders that once carried guilt and fear now carry purpose and peace. And that lightness should feel good. The enemy doesn’t want us to believe it. He wants us to equate holiness with heaviness, as if constant sorrow proves sincerity. Yet Scripture teaches, “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” Joy is not the absence of holiness; it’s the evidence of it.

When we grow afraid of joy, we rob grace of its full expression. We treat the Father’s delight like a luxury we can’t afford. But joy isn’t an indulgence; it’s an inheritance. It flows from walking closely with Jesus, where His desires become ours, His peace steadies our hearts, and His Spirit produces fruit that tastes like freedom.

When that freedom surprises us, we must not retreat into guilt. We must lean forward into gratitude. Joy is not the opposite of reverence; it’s the overflow of it. The one who grasps grace can laugh without fear, work with lightness, and rest with confidence because they finally understand that God delights to bless His children.

To be afraid of joy is to doubt grace.

So when joy rises within you, don’t suppress it. Don’t analyze it to death. Let it teach you what it feels like to live fully alive in Christ. This is what the yoke of Jesus does. It lifts what the world loads down. It turns duty into delight and obedience into peace.

The fear of joy keeps us chained to the old way of living, but the grace of Jesus sets us free to enjoy Him forever. When joy comes, don’t talk yourself out of it. Receive it as a sign you’ve begun to walk the way He intended, with a heart that works hard, trusts deeply, and rests completely.

“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” – John 15:11