I Choose Joy: Change . . .
Chip Ingram titles his latest book I Choose Joy: Change Your Perspective, Change Your Life (Moody Publishers, 2025). Currently, Chip ministers as a teaching pastor and CEO of Living on the Edge, an international teaching and discipleship ministry. In I Choose Joy, Pastor Ingram, through the providence of God, teaches on Philippians 1. So, Chip begins by asking you to identify the most joyful person you know. How would you describe what they have? Because it’s one thing to talk about joy and know how it works. But it’s quite another thing to experience authentic joy. While happiness is primarily external, joy is primarily internal. Yet, Chip notes, in the midst of difficulties, choosing joy goes against all our instincts.
Most significantly, joy results from learning to live above your circumstances. Consequently, let perspective interpret your circumstances. Look at your circumstances through the lens of God’s goodness. Yet, Chip stresses, living in gratitude and joy is not a one-time decision. Instead, you make that decision daily — even minute by minute. Furthermore, to develop an upward focus we need to pray. And whenever we can, pray with joy. For gratitude, joy, and confidence are dependent on God’s faithfulness, not our circumstances. Therefore, feelings always follow focus — and focus reveals our true affections. But even in the midst of a disorienting journey, you can choose joy. Because God’s using that journey. However, to interpret our challenges, we must know our purpose.
Above all, you must have a sense of purpose to experience deep, lasting joy. Thus, in every situation, advance the good news of Jesus. And when you trust God in the midst of adversity, people gain encouragement from your example. Focusing only on the issues causes you to feel discouraged and overwhelmed. However, finding the right purpose allows you to live in authentic hope. For biblical hope looks forward to certainties, not possibilities. In addition, Chip exhorts, tap into the mind of Christ and the Holy Spirit who lives in you to get an eternal mindset. If we’re grounded and rooted in our source of joy — God Himself — we cannot be moved.
In conclusion, Chip reminds us, joy involves a reorientation of our perspective over time — not sheer willpower. The answer to your problem is not a solution but a person — Jesus. Because it’s not enough for people just to know you’re a Christian. God wants us to live like Christians boldly. As a result, never give up, give in, or shrink back. The Bible clearly states that joy and suffering are compatible. Believing in Jesus and suffering for Jesus carry both privileges and responsibilities. Hence, Chip closes with this prayer:
“My prayer is that, if your life is going well, you might find even deeper joy, rooted in an ever-growing intimacy with Jesus. And if your life is not going well, that you might discover the transforming truth that joy is not something coming someday, some way, when everything gets better. As for me, I’ve learned a lesson I pray I will never forget: I choose joy!