Through a spiritual understanding of the Bible we learn that joy—permanent and indestructible joy—is attainable. Isaiah prophesied (35:10), "The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." And Jesus said (John 15:11), "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
The fulfillment of these promises, however, has often been forfeited through misapprehension of the nature and source of true joy. Joy has usually been thought of as a state of mind produced by the stimulus of outward circumstances—agreeable personal associations, pleasant conditions of human existence, interesting activities, material possessions, prestige, and so on. For this reason, men have constantly striven to win material things and to establish those relationships and circumstances which they believed would bring them joy. The effect of such efforts is often transitory.
Christian Science reveals the scientific basis of the joy foretold by Isaiah and demonstrated by Jesus. It does this by its fundamental teaching that man is spiritual, not material. This concept of man rests upon the statement in the first chapter of Genesis that "God created man in his own image." On page 591 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy gives the following illuminating definition of man: "The compound idea of infinite Spirit; the spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of Mind." Being "the full representation" of the Mind which is God, man includes every quality of that Mind by reflection. Surely joy is one of these qualities.
