Buying into the Democratic National Convention theme of “hope and joy” has to be like trying to chew a meringue topping: it’s sweet and all, but once you bite down, there’s just nothing there.

For one thing, hope has to be based on something – either grounded in reality or founded on spiritual faith. Otherwise it’s a hollow pep talk serving up “empty calories.”

What basis for hope is Vice President Kamala Harris offering? She’s yet to propose a policy of her own that would ease the country’s chronic economic woes, end foreign wars or reduce crime or illegal immigration (though she has since offered up several of former President Donald Trump’s policies that might).

For another thing, if you’re counting on government of any kind at any level to provide you with any kind of meaningful joy, you’re looking in the wrong place.

Real joy comes only from God, and from divine gifts such as family and friends.

It’s that true joy, based on faith and love and a belief in something greater than oneself, that you see in the eyes of Jesus’ followers – such as the many Christian educators we’re privileged to meet at the Herzog Foundation, publisher of The Lion.

I recently asked one of them – Jefferson City, Missouri, teacher Jacob Baker, one of 12 named by the foundation as Christian Teacher of the Year for 2024 – where that light in his and his colleagues’ eyes comes from.

It comes from a relationship with God, with Jesus, he says simply.

“There is nothing more important in this world than your relationship with God,” the River Oak Christian Academy science teacher explains.

“You can know all the right things, you can say all the right things, you can study things, you can become smarter or skilled or whatever else. But in the end, nothing else is going to matter except for your relationship with Him. Your whole life is dependent upon that relationship.”

For all the flash and fiction of the DNC’s spectacle, it’s Baker’s message that should resonate. It could not be a more important message – especially in the wake of the false hope and fake joy promulgated by the left.

In a world drowning in despair, chaos, confusion, materialism, narcissism, addiction, disappointment and violence, it’s vital that we understand that lasting joy – as opposed to momentary happiness – comes only from meaning.

Don’t look for meaning in a politician or party that, in essence, seeks to replace God as the fount of joy in life. Meaning and joy don’t come from a can or a canned speech. They don’t come from government, a product or any material thing – which are all human constructs of the same material world you now see on fire on your TV.

In sharp contrast, Pastor Greg Hartmann of Vineyard Church Kansas City Sunday dramatically demonstrated the true joy available through a relationship with Jesus. A series of taped interviews with worshipers who’ve been through the darkest of valleys – including a veteran who attempted suicide and a man who’d lost his wife – demonstrated the stunning transformation in their lives after giving their pain over to Jesus.

“This is what happens when Jesus steps into our lives,” Hartmann said. “He doesn’t just patch us up and send us on our way; he makes us new. …

“The old life, with all of its pain and all of its brokenness, is gone and a new life begins – a life marked by His grace, marked by His love, and marked by His power. …

“If God can do it for them, He can do it for you.”

The wife of a friend of mine in California who is suffering from Parkinson’s disease was sent Hartmann’s sermon – and my friend reports a booster shot of hope that no earthly intervention has yet been able to match.

Not even by a vapid politician.

What a terrible shame the Harris campaign and DNC are trying to sell their USDA-approved “Joy” brand of snake oil to followers.

What a tragedy if they actually buy it.