“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden
in a field. When a man found it, he hid
it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” - Jesus in Matthew 13:44 NIV
Restore to me the joy of your
salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm
51:12 NIV
Joy is normal
for believers in Christ. If joy is
missing from our lives then we need to ask God to show us how His joy can be
restored in us.
The most
common joy thief is reducing the Christian life to keeping a list of
rules. When our focus is on keeping the rules, we are on
a sure path to one of two joyless destinations.
If we are good at rule keeping, then we become prideful. Then, instead
of finding joy in our relationships, we are often critical of others. If we
are not so good at rule keeping,
we become more and more frustrated with ourselves. We will become discouraged or maybe even
depressed. Both of these paths lead to
frustration and disappointment with the Christian life.
This does not
mean that Christians don’t care about being good. God is good and we want to be a reflection of
Him. What it does mean is that trying
to be good by focusing on the rules does not work.
So how do
goodness and joy grow in our lives? Both
of them come from confidence in God. We
can have confidence that:
•
We are fully accepted and loved by God.
•
God’s ways are always the best ways.
•
God will empower us to do his will and fill us with his goodness in this life.
•
God will one day conquer all evil and restore everything with his goodness.
This week,
write down the above statements on an index card. Read them several times a day. Each time you read them, ask God to produce
his goodness and joy in you and ask God to give you the daily bread you need to
do his will. After you ask, have
confidence that God will give you your request.
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