look unto Jesus — Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Christian joy is always a by-product of something else — our relationship with the Lord... The joy that Christians have is based on the realization of what they are, & therefore, to Christians, what they are is much more important than what they may feel like, much more important than what may be happening to them. The emphasis of all the New Testament writers, from the very beginning of the book of Acts onward — and it is particularly the theme of the epistles and is implicit in the Gospels as well — is for us to realize who and what we are. It is the failure to realize this that more commonly than anything else robs us of this joy and happiness that our Lord offers us...

Our joy is all dependent upon our relationship to Him (Christ), and the way to preserve joy, therefore, is not to be controlled and governed by our feelings and moods and states, nor by what is happening to us. If we are, we will be miserable because this is an evil world and there are evil people in it and because there is illness and accident and death and sorrow. So the way of the New Testament is not seeking joy but having certainty and assurance with regard to who we are, what we are, our relationship to Him, and all that is implicit in that.

And so my third proposition about the character of true joy and happiness is that the way to obtain it, therefore, is not to look into myself or to try to produce joy — never. It is always the result of “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). And that is the message of the entire New Testament — look unto Jesus (Hebrews 12:2)... In other words, you do not look into yourself — you look out from yourself and forget yourself, and you look at Him...

This is the only answer — “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2). The way to get joy is to contemplate the glory of this blessed person. He is “the brightness of his [God’s] glory, and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). He is God the eternal Son. He is the one about whom we are concerned. He is the one who has come into this world in order to put us right with God. Whatever you may feel, whatever is happening to you, do not look at these things; look at Him, and realize that He is able to give you all you need and infinitely more.”

— Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The purpose of the Scriptures