In the beginning, the Creator was not stingy with our environment. He filled it with life. Planet Earth was progressively transformed as every day God’s Word went forth and every day God’s Word was received. Each day’s change prepared the environment for the next day’s change until it was totally transformed. Yet it was as though it waited for something. In the same way a church sanctuary, all decorated, waits for the bride and a nursery, all equipped, waits for the baby, Planet Earth was prepared but waiting to be completed.
All of the daily changes seemed to be setting the stage for the climax on the sixth day. “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” (Gen. 1:26, NIV).
Earth had been waiting for man! Man himself was the climactic jewel of Creation! You are His crown jewel!
What task has God assigned you? Has He assigned you to
establish a home,
strengthen a marriage,
lead a family,
serve a church,
teach in a classroom,
or comfort in a sick room?
Check your attitude toward the assignment. Do you grumble and complain about it? Do you neglect and ignore it? Do you resent and reject it? Or do you enjoy fulfilling it as your service unto the Lord? God wants you and me to enjoy our service to Him, whatever it may be. And He also wants us to discuss each detail with Him as we do the work. One of His pleasures, as well as ours, is the joy of working together as we complete the task. Often, the more difficult the task, the greater the joy because it enables us to see the power of God and just what He can do in and through and for us.
There is more to life . . .
than being healthy,
than being happy,
than being problem free,
than being comfortable,
than feeling good, than getting what we want,
than being healed.
There is more to life even than living!
And the “more to life” is the development of our faith to the extent that our very lives display God’s glory!
Jesus does not protect those He loves from bad things happening but uses bad things to fulfill His greater plan. He is glad, not that we suffer, but that we have the opportunity to grow in our faith and display His glory, which is the fulfillment of the very purpose for our existence. Don’t settle for less than more!
Who is praising Jesus because you are? If your praise – and mine – is interrupted by . . .
our circumstances or our complaints,
our selfishness or our suffering,
our desires or our depression,
our indifference or our insistence,
or by anything at all . . .
the light will grow dim in our lives as we sink into the mire of self, and instead of causing others to praise Him, we will drag them down into the darkness with us.
So would you praise Him? And keep on praising Him! Praise Him for __________. You fill in the blank with an attribute of Christ.
Joy is supremely different than happiness. Happiness, which is an American’s inalienable right to pursue, seems to depend more on circumstances or things or people or feelings. Joy is independent of everything except our relationship with God. Someone has defined joy as peace dancing! And Jesus, with eyes that must have sparkled in anticipation of the blessing that His beloved friends were going to receive, explained, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11, NIV).
One of the hallmarks of those who are immersed in a love relationship with Jesus and His Father, which they express through abiding obedience, is joy! Joy in Jesus! Joy in living our lives for Him! Joy in abiding . . . and obeying! Joy that is complete, with nothing that needs to be added to make it more so.
