When I see this picture of an elderly hand grasping a tiny apple, it brings emotion. I’m not sure what the feelings are, but I think it’s a mixture of sadness and humble gratitude.
I don’t know the story behind the picture, but I do know three billion people in the world make less than two dollars a day. To that portion of the world, this small apple would be precious, and the people would be thankful.
Am I thankful for a small apple? Sadly, much larger apples have spoiled in our fruit bowl and become chicken food. Compared to the poorest people, I live in a country with a medium income of over 50k. I’ve never wondered if I’d have food for the next meal. Has this deadened my heart to being appreciate for what God provides?
I don’t want to take for granted God’s blessings, but I have.
Lord, develop in me a continual heart of gratitude which extends beyond a single day of thanking.
Gifts Point to the Giver
Moments after I pray about having a more grateful heart, my wife enters the room, fresh from her time of solitude.
“I was just reminded of the doxology,” she says. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”
God had been showing her how easy it is to focus on the gifts and forget the Giver.
Every gift, from small apples, to turkey feasts, to breath for another day comes from God the creator of all things.
I take what she says as an answer to my prayer for God to develop in me a continual heart of gratitude.
When I notice any gift, from food, to provision, to creation, to relationships, to …, may the gift send me directly into thankful praise to my King.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you .. (Philippians 1:3 NASB).
And When people give me praise or compliments may I also see these as reasons to thank and praise God.
When people come up and give me a compliment… I take each remark as if it were a flower. At the end of the day I lift up the bouquet of flowers I have gathered throughout the day and say, ‘Here you are, Lord, it is all Yours.’” Corrie Ten Boom
Being Thankful for Eternal Blessings
Something else which comes to mind is how many things God has done for me in eternity which will never change.
As I focus on these eternal blessings, life’s gifts become cherries on top of a continual thanksgiving feast.
The Bible is full of reasons to be thankful, but here’s a summary of the unchanging truths in Ephesians 1:3-14:
I have every spiritual blessing available to me in Jesus.
God loves me and chose me to be in Christ before the world began.
In Jesus Christ, I’m holy and totally blameless.
It’s God’s pleasure to adopt me as His child through Jesus.
God did these things for me so that His glory, His infinite greatness and His worth, would be demonstrated in kindness and mercy toward me.
I’ve been redeemed, rescued from God’s wrath because of Jesus’ life blood shed on my behalf.
God lavished His grace and mercy upon me, forgiving my every sin.
God has made known to me His intensions to summarize all things into Christ Jesus, my Lord.
I have a secure inheritance because God’s purposes are never thwarted.
God has sealed me with the Holy Spirit as a promise and pledge of my inheritance.
I belong to God and my life is to be a testimony to the praise of His glory and grace.
These, and many more truths, give me reasons for unending thanksgiving.
May Thanksgiving day launch a mindset of thankfulness in me which will never change.
Prayer
Lord, what a gift today has been. You’re giving me a thankful heart. You showed how even the smallest apple is a gift from Your hand, never to be taken for granted. You are the source of every blessings. Please help me to be continually thankful for You and not just the gifts You give me.
There are so many blessings You’ve given me which will never change. Please develop in me a continual thankful heart for what You’ve bestowed upon me in Christ.
I’m so sorry for the apples I’ve allowed to spoil because I didn’t treasure them. Tender my heart so that I will never take anything for granted again. They all come from Your hand.
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Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Novels by the Author:
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
What I read felt totally outlandish. How could it be true? A good friend has a mass on their chest. They go in for a biopsy on Thursday. A marriage is in trouble. A job was lost. Relationships are broken. A long-time friend died of a brain tumor. Loved ones are sick. People are in deep emotional pain.
Considering things like this, what I read seems impossible. And it isn’t even a suggestion. It is a command.
Always be joyful.Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus (I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NLT).
Be thankful in all circumstances?
I do believe God is for me and that His indwelling Spirit enables me to carry out what He commands. But to always be grateful is hard to imagine. How can it be?
How is it Possible to always be Grateful?
To be truly grateful in everything, I must pull my perspective away from my circumstances. I must realize that God has something far richer in mind for me than an easy, comfortable life.
From God’s word, here’s what I know:
I was created with deep longings which can only be satisfied by God Himself.[1]
Delighting in God, enjoying Him, loving Him, and praising Him, satisfies these deep longings. [2]
Pursuing things of this world to satisfy my soul leave me empty and headed for destruction.[3]
God uses all things for my greater benefit, according to His purposes, not mine.[4]
Above all things, God is at work to make me more and more like Jesus.[5]
Following Jesus means His character being formed in me, not by my efforts, but by dependence upon His Spirit within me.[6]
In Jesus’ endurance of the cross, He remained fixed upon God’s greater purposes, even during excruciating pain.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB).
On the cross, Jesus had Joy.
Relational Joy.
Fueled by His love for His Father and for us, joy strengthened Jesus through unbearable pain.
No matter what else is going on in our lives, the fact that Jesus, Lord of Lord and King of Kings, values us enough to lay down His life for our relationship with Him, should fill our hearts with overflowing gratitude. And gratitude draws us near to God, the source of all Joy.[7]
Gratitude, the Gateway to Relational Joy
If I’m bemoaning my circumstances, the eternal overshadowing joy of the Lord can never be experienced.
If I’m only measuring how I’m doing by how my life is going, I’ll tend to be ungrateful, and joy will be killed.
God is not absent from my pain. In fact, if I call upon Him, my Ever-Present Help in Trouble [8], His peaceful nearness cleanses and heals deep parts of my heart, untapped when circumstances are easy.
From personal experience, I’m fortified in my troubles when I turn to God for comfort and not the false affections of the world.
Our gratitude for the gifts God gives us, especially everlasting life with Him, invites our soul to develop a posture of thanksgiving. God is good and God is for us. The more we see this, and point everything back to Him in glorious thanksgiving and praise, joy will grow and spill over into rejoicing, come what may.
Practice It
Think about a present trouble in your life. It could be related to health, finances, relationships, busyness, or any number of difficulties in this broken world.
In the midst our very hard times, God invites us to call on Him as our Comforter in all we face.[9] He is for us. He is near to our broken hearts.[10]
As you receive the comfort of His nearness, thank Him. Thank Him for being with you and for the price He paid for your reconciliation. Realize that especially in your trials, He’s always at work to make you more and more like Jesus.
Ask Him to bring other things to your mind to be grateful for. Develop a habit of giving all thanks and glory to God.
As did Corrie Ten Boom, present all praise from others as fragrant offers back to God.
When people come up and give me a compliment… I take each remark as if it were a flower. At the end of the day I lift up the bouquet of flowers I have gathered throughout the day and say, ‘Here you are, Lord, it is all Yours.’” Corrie Ten Boom
Prayer
Lord, I’m sorry that I haven’t developed a regular rhythm of thanking You for everything in my life. The more I walk with you, the more I’m convinced that you are for me and that You are at work in every aspect of my life. Please help me thank you for the pleasant times and the heart aches.
Teach me to linger and savor Your life all around. Slow me down to pause and thank You at every turn.
Thank You for the way joy is unleashed when I have a heart of gratitude. When I’m thankful, the joy of my relationship with You explodes in my soul.
Please keep me focused on loving You, thanking You, and loving those You bring my way.
Amen.
[1] Ecclesiastes 3:11
[2] Psalm 37:4
[3] I Timothy 6:9, Matthew 6:19
[4] Romans 8:28
[5] Romans 8:29
[6] Galatians 4:19, Galatians 2:20
[7] Psalm 16:11
[8] Psalm 46:1-3
[9] II Corinthians 1:3-5
[10] Psalm 34:18
Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child in the Midlands of South Carolina.
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
Rob Buck
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
Identifying and Eliminating what Hinders our Fellowship with the One Who Made Us.
The Story
Could a former addict, who lost his job and almost his family, now enjoy unhindered intimacy with the Creator of the universe? You might not think so, but think again.
A couple of months ago, at a Saturday morning men’s breakfast, a brother, I’ll call him George, shared about his life of addiction, which held him captive for many years. Tearfully, George shared how tough love, accountability and God’s grace transformed his life. With a gleam in his eye, he declared that he now enjoys unhindered intimacy with God.
Those of us who were at the breakfast were very thankful for George’s honest vulnerability. It took great courage to admit his weakness, but we all saw how in his weakness, Christ showed Himself as strong. Too often men hide behind thin veneers of outward goodness, while inside, joy withers and souls dry out.
Men need to be brave enough to talk about deeper subjects than sports, cars, and fishing. That morning, George’s vulnerability led to more meaningful, transformative connections and conversations.
We men need to fight for this level of openness. It starts with our own courage to stop hiding and talk about our struggles. This is the gift George gave us that morning.
Since then, I’ve explored George’s phrase, “unhindered intimacy,” and would like to share what I’ve discovered.
Intimate Fellowship
What is intimate fellowship?
God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (I Corinthians 1:9).
Our fellowship involves a deep association with Christ, a community with Him and a joint participation.
But what hinders our enjoyment of this intimate fellowship?
The Hinderances
Distractions
These days, they are far too many screens to capture our attention. Even in our times with God, they cry out, offering politics, sports, TV, short video reels and the like. These and other distractions invade our souls with noise and crowd our minds. We tend to suffer from a lack of intentional solitude.
May we be less like Martha and more like Mary. Less bothered and worried about what we do and more resting in the Lord as we love and serve.
38Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:38-42)
False Affections
We were created with an eternal hole in our hearts which only God can fill.[1] But, we tend to dedicate our lives trying to plug the void with temporal, fragile, fleeting pleasures. We are tricked into thinking these false affections, such as substances, porn, gluttony, achievements, possessions, and even human relationships, will quiet our longing souls.
The truth of the matter is the these impostures only hinder our intimacy with our Creator. We can’t depend on any earthly thing, including our closest relationships, to make us feel okay. God alone must be our Highest Joy.
You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound (Psalm 4:7).
Guilt and Shame
The guilt and shame of sin can make us feel unlovable and unworthy. As we pursue holiness, we can never depend upon our own strength to become like Jesus. Depending on God’s Holy Spirit within us is how transformation happens, not by our own strength.
Similarly, we can never depend on our own righteousness as the entrance into intimate fellowship with God. Any misunderstanding of the efficacy of Christ’s sacrifice for our salvation clouds us with guilt and shame, which hinders our approach to Father God.
We must not allow the enemy to hide God’s love and forgiveness from us.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all (I John 1:9 NASB).
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
Jesus says that the more we are forgiven, the more we love.
46 You (Simon) did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven” (Luke 7:46-48 NASB).
Doubt of God’s Love and Care
How many times have we heard or thought, “How could a loving God allow this or that to happen?”
After all, didn’t Paul say:
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28 NASB).
But what is our good? Is it pleasant circumstances? Is God’s purpose for us to live a comfortable life? The verse below gives us the answer.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29 NASB).
God’s purpose for us is to make us more like Jesus.
In the verses below, Paul despaired even of life. But, he saw God at work for His greater purpose of causing Paul to trust God and not himself.
8For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;9indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (II Corinthians 1:8-9 NASB).
In Conclusion
Because of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, we have been given the ability to have unhindered intimacy with Almighty God.
To enjoy our fellowship:
We must fight distractions and pursue unhurried time alone with God.
We must not allow any affection to supplant God as our Highest Joy.
As we follow Jesus, we must not allow guilt and shame to discourage us from communing with God.
We must remember the power of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf to take away our sin and grant us His righteousness.
We must not forget that God is at work to give us the freedom and joy of being like Jesus.
Hallelujah.
[1] Ecclesiastes 3:11
Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child.
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
Rob Buck
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
Close to thirty years ago, I was mowing the lawn with the small tractor I inherited from my grandfather. D.B. Leatherwood was a famous lawyer in upstate South Carolina, but to me he was Pop. We were close. I grew up with only a rolling hill separating me from my grandparent’s house. Pop was a self-made man. Orphaned at an early age and raised by his older sisters in the hills of North Carolina, he worked hard to earn a law degree from the University of North Carolina. He moved to Greenville to open his practice and that’s where he met my grandmother.
Pop didn’t show affection, but I knew he loved me. On late summer afternoons he’d hit fly balls to me down the hill. His batting was pristine. I don’t remember him ever even fouling a ball. At dusk, as the cicadas begin their serenade, he’d invite me up for a Pepsi and a bowl of cashews and Fritos. We’d sit in between the massive white columns on his front porch and “watch the world go by” along the busy street in front of his house.
As I mowed and navigated Pop’s old tractor around our small plot of grass, I thought of him. He took such good care of us when my father moved out. In my mind’s eye I could see him cutting our grass with his straw hat and plaid shirt, leaning in to keep the tractor balanced on the hills. He was like a father to me.
The thought of him that day filled my heart with what I must call joy. Though I felt happy, the experience was more than a feeling. For a brief moment the challenges of being a young, married, father of four with a stressful IT job seemed small. It was an eternal, larger than life, moment.
Looking back, I recognize part of the sweetness of the moment was the nostalgic remembrance of my childhood, but the gladness and joy stemmed from my relationship with Pop and our mutual love for each other.
That experience and many like it have made me realize how interwoven joy is with love. Personally, my experiences of joy seem to always involve a loving relationship, mostly with God, but also with the people I cherish.
The Joy of Loving
Scripture confirms how tightly coupled love and joy really are.
David, who loved God with a passion well documented, wrote that in God, our highest relationship, we find full joy.[1] The Psalms are filled with his worshipful love mixed with joy.
“For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done. I will sing for joy at the works of your hands.” (Psalm 92:4 NASB)
David’s continual posture of loving God brought joy to his heart and gave him courage in the face of many difficulties.
As Saul’s men watched the house to kill him, David wrote to the Lord, “But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your loving lovingkindness in the morning” (Psalm 59:16 NASB).
Our love of God, which extends to others, also fills our hearts with joy. Follow Jesus’ love for His disciples.
After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34 NASB).
Jesus went on to say that if we loved others in the manner in which He has loved us, two amazing things would happen: we would live in His love and His complete joy would be ours.[2]
And concerning Jesus’ joy, the love connection is clear. In Hebrews we read that His love for us gave Him the joy He needed to endure the cross and secure our salvation.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB)
We find the correlation between love and joy in many other places in Scripture. No matter what is going on, in and around us, loving God and others is the pathway to a joy which will bring courage and strength to our lives.
“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b NASB).
The Challenge
Check your heart. At this moment circumstances may be pleasant, or you may be facing difficult trials. Are you encouraged or discouraged? In other words, do you have courage or not? Courage, fueled by a joyful heart, is what we need each day. No wonder we get the word “courage” from the French word for heart – “cour.”
Where do we find joy? It’s very easy to seek it from the world’s commodities: happy circumstances, pleasantries and fleeting affections which promise much, but produce only pain.
Do we do depend upon the happenings of life to keep our hearts glad? Certainly, there is much in this life to enjoy, but true joy, the kind which yields lasting strength and courage, comes from loving God first and then loving others as He’s loved us.
When this is the case, we are freed.
Free to love and free to truly enjoy what God has given us.
“Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you; remain in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (John 15:9-12 NASB).
May we determine to fill our days in worshipful love of God; thanking Him, praising Him and adoring Him.
May we bask in His lovingkindness and love Him with everything within us!
As we love and draw near to Him, joy overtakes us because He is fullness of Joy.
Prayer
Lord, if I’m not careful, my heart gets attached to my circumstances. When this happens my courage to face life’s challenges wanes and flows based on my sense of how I’m doing. When this happens, You have repeatedly directed me to love. Over and over again, this redirects my heart to You, my Fullness of Joy.
May my days be filled with a continual longing to praise You, thank You, and love You. Please help me slow down enough to listen to You and to love the folks You bring my way, even those who hurt me. For this is the example you set for us when you washed Peter and Judas’ feet.
When I love, You fill my heart with gladness and joy, giving me the courage to face what comes my way.
When I stray from this single focused determination to love, please guide me quickly back.
Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child.
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
Rob Buck
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
Ezekiel 47: 1Then he brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east, for the house faced east. And the water was flowing down from under, from the right side of the house, from south of the altar. 12 By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing (NASB).
Story
A two-branch creek runs in front of and behind the barn in our back yard. During heavy rains, debris, mostly dead branches and leaves, but sometimes trash, impedes the flow of water.
These deterrents in the stream remind me of how my soul can get clogged up. So much of the world’s happenings can hamper my focus on Jesus. He tells us that, when we come to Him, Rivers of Living Water (His Holy Spirit) will flow from within us. [1] When I focus on the debris, and not Jesus, the source of the River, my life gets clogged up and I become stagnant.
Four years ago, a young friend asked me to help him remain in the flow of God’s Holy Spirit. I was somewhat taken aback that he would ask me, but I agreed to walk with him and share what I’ve learned about abiding. In the years since, we’ve both learned so much about staying in Jesus’ flow within us. It’s amazing how our relationships with God can exponentially deepen when we share our struggles and insights with another.
Following are a few principles we’re turning into life rhythms.
Abiding in the Flow
Free the Debris
John Eldredge has produced a very useful tool called the One Minute Pause App. I’ve been using it to take vital steps toward remaining in the River of God. The app encourages us to free the debris in our souls by regularly giving everyone and everything to God.
This practice, called benevolent detachment, keeps the worldly distractions out of our hearts and gives us soul space.
This clearing out of the debris, which obscures the flow of God’s Spirit, refocuses our minds, will and emotions on Him and not the complexities and tragedies of life.
It’s amazing how regularly surrendering our wills, and trusting in God and His will, keeps our souls in peace and joy. Refocusing on God’s eternal purposes, above the fray of the day, keeps us hopeful, no matter what troubles we face.
Be Nourished by God’s Flowing River
Ezekiel, in the verses above, speaks of water flowing from the temple of God. He writes about many flourishing trees on both sides of the river. These waters bring nutrition to the trees as they provide fruit for food and leaves for healing.
This reminds me of what David wrote In Psalm 1. He compares men, who walk uprightly and delight themselves on God’s law, to be like trees planted by streams of water.
As we delight in God, and walk in His ways, His Holy Spirit nourishes our souls like nothing else. We were designed for God’s River to flow freely though us, filling us with His joy and love. His flow satiates our soul to complete satisfaction. As we delight in Him, luscious fruit is produced, healthy green leaves flourish and eternal prosperity marks our lives.
Abiding in the river of the flow of God’s Spirit directs us into His design for our lives. As this happens, God more and more becomes our Joy and Delight, the Sustainer of our Souls.
Be a Blessing
Since, while traveling in the flow of God’s Rivers of Living Water, love, joy and kindness are produced, we become a natural blessing to others, even if we don’t realize it. When we’re in the flow, the people around us sense something different. It’s Jesus in us, though they may not realize it.
Blessing others is a matter of obeying the new command Jesus gave us the night before He was crucified. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (John 15:12 NASB).
These words summarizes all of Jesus’ commands. As we follow it, the flow of God’s Spirit is super charged.
Jesus tells us that as we love others as He’s loved us, we will dwell in His love and our joy will be filled to overflowing.[2]
I’m not big into video games, but I remember the Pac-Man power up. In fact, the way Pac-man was super charged when it ate the power pellets, became the formula for power-ups across gaming to this day. When Pac-Man ate the power pellets, it was super charged to take on all foes.
But Pac-Man’s power was short lived. When we lay aside our own agendas and follow Jesus, by sacrificially loving others, our own love and joy are continually powered up because it’s not ours, it’s His River flowing through us.
Ours job is simply to ask Jesus, “Who do You want to love through me next?”
Practice the Rhythm
Begin now. Get alone with God and clear out the debris which clogs up the flow of His Spirit in your life. Gain soul space. Have a conversation with God and:
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (I Peter 5:7 NIV).
Throughout the day, be nourished by God Himself. Enjoy Him and thank Him for all He has created around you. Be vigilant in ensuring that He alone is your Highest Delight.
Be a blessing. Develop a “love first” look at the day. Rather than focusing on what needs to be done, see your duties as opportunities to bring you to the folks God wants you to love.
Prayer
Lord, please keep me in the flow of the Living Waters of Your Indwelling Holy Spirit. You designed me to function at full capacity when I’m abiding in You. Show me quickly when the cares of this world have clogged Your flow. Please stop me when I try and do anything apart from You.
You alone are my Highest Joy. Please show me quickly if any idol supplants You in my heart. I want to love others as You’ve loved me, but I know this starts with my full knowledge of Your love for me. Show me quickly when I believe lies about Your love. Please direct me to disagree with all falsehoods and agree only with Your truth. I love You Lord. Amen.
[1] John 7:37-39
[2] John 15:11
Previous posts in our From Duty to Delight Series:
Please Check out the new Cola City Podcast . Discussions that impact the vision of reaching every man, woman, and child.
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
Rob Buck
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
When following Jesus feels more like a “got-to” than a “get-to.”
But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42 NASB).
When my youngest son was in his early teens he said, “Daddy, I don’t want reading the Bible to feel like homework.”
I was very proud of his honesty and found his statement both refreshing and convicting.
When he said it, I’d been a Christian for at least twenty years. I’d consistently checked the boxes of “quiet times” and Bible reading, but my life in Christ lacked power and joy. I seemed to have simply added the Christian to-dos to an already overflowing task list.
I tried hard to pattern my life after the Jesus I read about in the Bible, but that was the problem. “I” tried. Still fighting besetting sins, I often felt defeated and discouraged. I wasn’t experiencing the Rivers of Living Water Jesus spoke about.[1]
In short, my life in Christ seemed mostly dutiful and not delightful; kind of like homework.
I found myself, like Martha in the verses above, worried and bothered about many things. I wanted so badly to succeed at being a Christian. Where was the peace and joy I’d longed for? With so many life responsibilities and resources stretched to the limit, I longed for the simplicity of the “one thing” Mary had chosen.
It’s been many years since my youngest son made that statement. He’s a man now and the integrity I saw in him then, characterizes him today.
Life has had its curveballs for both of us over the years, but we meet regularly, with another friend, to discuss our journeys. Neither of us want our times with Father God to be dutiful, another to-do in a world of activities.
We both recognize how essential time with our Savior is to our becoming a disciple of Jesus. At times, like doing homework, we still must push through, even if it feels dutiful.
Today, my life with Jesus, in-spite of, and perhaps because of, very difficult trials, has become a growing life of peace, joy, and hope in Jesus Christ.
More and More, I believe Jesus enjoys being with me. He is the Delight of my life, and on most days my heart agrees.
What follows are stories, adventures and truths which have played a part in awaking my heart to the joy of following Jesus.
From duty to delight.
Read the stories, dig into the truths, accept the challenges and pray the prayers.
I hope following discipleship rhythms will fuel and sustain your journey as a follower of Jesus. I pray that, as time goes on, these rhythms will become lifelong habits.
I pray you begin to see your times alone with Jesus as a privilege you get to enjoy and not a drudgery you must endure.
My prayer is that you know, at heart a level, how much God loves you and that you embrace your moment by moment union with Christ.
I pray you realize and orient your life around God’s greater story of conforming us into the image of Christ above all circumstances, even the very hard ones.
I pray you become familiar with, and continually practice, Jesus’ new command of loving others as He’s loved us, which keeps us in His love and fulfills our joy.
I pray you become committed to meeting with trusted friends in the faith on a regular basis to spur each other another on and to speak God’s truth into each other’s lives.
I pray you regularly look for opportunities to love folks who are far from God, but close to you, always being ready to give a reason for the hope within you.
Stay Tuned.
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[1] John 7:37-39
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter ofHis kingdom. “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, hasanointed You With the oil of gladness above Your companions” (Hebrew 1:8-9 NASB).
Jesus has been anointed with the oil of gladness (exultation and extreme joy).
As we grow in our knowledge of God being our Highest Joy, we will look at how Jesus’ glad heart strengthened Him and gave Him courage. And we will look at how we’re fueled by the nearness of Jesus and His joy.
In spite of what He faced, even on the cross, Jesus’ life was marked by joy and gladness. And we’ve been called to follow Him and learn from His life, as we depend upon His Spirit within.
What can we learn about His Joy, which He says completes our joy.
The Joy of Relationships
Relating – a connection between.
Out of the depth of love within the Trinity, man was created and given the breath of life. We were created for fellowship and relationship with God. And, as amazing as it seems, God delights in our connection with Him.
In fact, Zephaniah writes that our connection with Him causes the Lord to rejoice with shouts of joy. [1] We actually bring joy to God.
This helps bring clarity to the following verses in Hebrews: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB)
Reconciling our connection with Him was the joy set before Jesus.
Knowing His death on our behalf would re-establish our broken relationships with God because of our sin, gave Jesus joy, a joy which fueled His endurance on the cross.
Consider Jesus’ words to His disciples the night before He went to the cross: “If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you (John15:10-12 NASB)
His command – Love others as He’s loved us.
His reason – That His Joy might be in us and that our joy might be complete.
It may seem strange from an earthly perspective, but realizing the complete joy of Jesus seems to have everything to do with loving.
Love and Joy are tightly coupled. They appear together at the beginning of Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit. [2]
True, lasting joy doesn’t spring from earthly happenings, but rather from the depth of love in our relationships.
Paul wrote about it:
But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me (Philippians 2:17-18 NASB).
For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?For you are our glory and joy (I Thessalonians 2:19-20 NASB).
In fact, he tells us to always rejoice in our love of God.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you (Philippians 3:1 NASB).
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NASB).
Story: I remember a tough day in the early nineties when our kids were small. My wife had just found a nest of mice in her clothes drawer. Our dryer was broken. I had some high priority work issues, along with the normal challenges of parenting four children.
After disbursing of the mice, I was hanging up our wet towels and blue jeans on the clothes line, trying to formulate a plan for fixing what else was broken.
Then it hit me. Like an apple bouncing off the head of Isaac Newton, I was awakened.
What happened with the mice and the dyer and how my work issues were resolved was very temporal, what really mattered was how my wife and my relationship survived the strain. She was in distress over finding rodents in our room.
Our relationship, and how I loved her through the difficulties was much more important than solving the problems.
When I finished hanging up the clothes, I sat down to unpack what seemed to be a huge paradigm shift. Could relationships and loving be the key to life?
Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees, from Matthew 22:36-40, came to mind. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the great and foremost commandment.The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Then I thought of the ten commandments and how they are all about loving God and loving others.
Since then, though I’ve forgotten the focus for great chunks of time, I’ve been intentional about having a love first mindset. I will testify that when this focus is operating as it should, I have unexplainable joy.
Conclusion
Jesus’ life was marked by joy. And, as we look deeper, we see a definite connection between love and joy. It was His love for us, and our reconciliation with Him which gave Him joy on the cross. In fact, it fueled His endurance.
On the night before Jesus was crucified on our behalf, He gave His disciples a formula for experiencing His joy. The secret – loving others as He’s loved us. If we do this, we will remain in His love and our joy will be made complete.
Paul also experienced the joy of sacrificial love. He equated joy with being poured out like a drink offering and he called the Thessalonians his glory and joy. Paul also commands us to be full of joy in our love for the Lord.
Joy, which satisfies our longing hearts doesn’t come from fighting for ourselves. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Our experience of joy is directly related to how we love.
Prayer
Lord, You’ve awakened me to the tight connection between love and joy. Thank you. Please stop me quickly when I forget and try once again to derive my feelings of being okay from my circumstances. Please keep my heart in a love first mode, realizing all along that any loving I do must come from You. I pray the people I love would recognize You in every word and deed.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21 NASB).
Baked into the heart of every human is the unaltered desire to find a lasting joy to satisfy our empty souls. This longing, this need for satisfaction, is so strong we won’t give up the quest, though we may die trying. The problem is we look for satisfaction in all the wrong places.
Wasn’t it the Rolling Stones who could get no satisfaction after trying and trying and trying?
King Solomon tried all manner of worldly delights to satisfy his emptiness.[1] Denying himself nothing he saw around him, he concluded that it was all “vanity and striving after the wind.”Ecclesiastes 2:11b (NASB)
Trying everything, but failing to find joy, Solomon was left hopeless and despondent. “I hated life, for the work which has been done under the sun was grievous to me, because everything is futility and striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 2:17 (NASB)
He would later conclude, that God has set eternity in the hearts of men.[2] Solomon had the means to attempt anything the world had to offer to fill his need for satisfaction. None of it worked. At the end of his search, he hated life because he recognized the utter futility of trying to fill the eternal hole in his hearts with anything around him.
God designed our hearts for joy. We’re to be fulfilled by God Himself, the fullness of all joy,[3] not in having a better life.
Until we realize true joy and fulfillment comes from God Himself, our lives will be endless pursuits of fleeting, temporal, pleasure which lead only to idols and addictions.
We must all ask ourselves – What is our treasure?
Is there something we’re looking forward to, or hoping for, which we believe will finally bring fulfillment and lasting happiness? Completing college? Getting married? Buying a house? Getting out of debt? Getting promoted at work? Having children? Starting a business? Publishing a book? Having good health? Having grandchildren? Retiring? Winning the lottery?
These can be good things, but will they provide lasting fulfillment?
Desiring happiness is not a bad thing, but true joy is a by product of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It’s built into our design by the Intelligent Designer.
But, how can we walk in a growing awareness that God Himself is our Highest Joy when all around clouds the truth?
Awakened
Truly realizing God Himself is the Great Satisfier of our Soul is something God Himself must reveal to us. If this is our desire, to believe He’s our Highest Joy, He will awaken our hearts to a deeper and deeper understanding and lead us into days of sustained Joy in Him.
Paul prays that the eyes of the Ephesians’ hearts would be enlightened to the marvelous spiritual truths of the gospel. [4]
God Himself is our Great Reward. Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward Genesis 15:1b (NIV).
Joy is fully experienced in the presence of God. In Your presence is fullness of joy; Psalm 16:11b (NASB).
Jesus satisfies our deep hunger and thirst. I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst (John 6:35 NASB).
If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’ (John 7:37b-38 NASB).
Chew on these and other truths from Scripture which tell us God Himself will fill us to overflowing with lasting satisfaction. Ask Him to make these words come alive in your heart so that they will progressively govern how you live every moment.
Story: Disillusioned, hopes crushed, my fragile world was crumbling around me. What I thought would bring lasting happiness left me disheartened, disappointed and empty. I felt like a failure – rejected and unloved.
This describes several “low” points in my life. I see now how I’d set my affections on God’s benefits rather than on God himself. At the time, I was miserable. But looking back, I see these very hard times as severe mercies.[5] Each played a part in further dislodging, me from an entrenched disillusionment.
These were extremely difficult times, but, looking back, totally worth it.
The fundamental truth in the human existence, that God Himself brings us the lasting satisfaction we so desperately need, is becoming REAL in my soul.
From time to time I still struggle. I put feeling good and having worldly peace above God Himself. But more and more these struggles are short lived. God is awakening me and bringing me back to the knowledge that NOTHING fully satisfies me but HIM.
Conclusion
Where we are is not as important as where we’re headed and Who we’re with. Where are we headed? What’s our aim, what motivates our heart as our treasure?
Idealistically, we long for our lives to go smoothly. We’d love to have our bills paid, be in good health, have stuff that’s not always broken and get along with the people who matter most to us. These are all wonderful things, but we must recognize two things about these life goals.
First of all, these longings for our circumstances to go smoothly almost never work out as we hope.
Secondly, even if they did, our inner longings would still ache and scream out for satisfaction.
Let’s recognize now that God Himself is Who we’ve been searching for all our lives. He’s our Reward, our Pearl of Great Price, the Bread of Life, our Rivers of Living water filling our souls to overflowing.
We need to believe this and ask God to awaken our hearts to the reality that He’s our Highest Joy.
When we find ourselves longing for lesser treasures, let’s acknowledge it, confess it and turns our hearts quickly back to seeking Him above all else.
Prayer
Lord, it’s so amazing that you created me for fellowship with You. It’s profoundly simple, that the key to life is being with You. Yet, it’s also so difficult when my heart drifts to what I see around me. But you are showing me more and more, in the depths of my soul, how complete I am in You. I can rest now and enjoy who You, no matter what I face. Thank You for the loving way You show me when I stray, tenderly pointing me back to You.
By Your Spirit, please keep me on the path of seeking You as my Treasure every moment of every day.
Amen.
Personal Study
Highlight Matthew 13:44-46
Explain it in your own words
Apply it to your life
Respond to God in prayer
[1] Ecclesiastes 2:1-10
[2] Ecclesiastes 3:11
[3] Psalm 16:11b
[4] Ephesians 1:18
[5] I first heard this term from a book entitled A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Vanauken
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.
Novels by the Author:
Rob Buck
What happens when a professor figures out how to send messages to his younger self to try and avoid the suicide of his best friend? Did he change more than he bargained for? Beyond Time
By finding two undelivered letters in a old shack deep in the woods, Cassie and Daniel unknowing set off a series of events which uncover a plot to wipe out a whole family Hope Remains
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6 NASB)
A central thread of the Bible is God’s desire to be WITH us. As believers, the Holy Spirit indwells us. Christ, not our own striving, is our source of Life.
In addition to Christ being in us, there’s another amazing dimension to our union with Him. When Christ was raised into newness of life, we believers were raised up with Him. Not only is Christ in us, but we are also in Him.
In his book, Union with Christ, Rankin Wilbourne writes that the word “Christian” is only used three times in the New Testament letters. However, Paul uses ” in Christ” 165 times to describe those who follow Christ. [1]
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are inChrist Jesus (Romans 8:1 NASB).
But by His doing you are inChrist Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (I Corinthians 1:30 NASB),
Therefore if anyone is inChrist, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (II Corinthians 5:17 NASB).
Being raised up in Christ is essential to who we are. Paul puts in this way in Colossians 3:3-4, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Being dead, and now hidden in Christ, adds far-reaching, glorious implications to our daily lives which we don’t want to miss. Let’s look at a few.
In Christ, We have a New Self
..in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth (Ephesians 4:22b-24 NASB)
We know our lives are now hidden in Christ. We’ve been raised with Him in newness of life. However, as mentioned before, we can still choose to walk in our old manner of life.
Paul gives a command to lay aside our old self, reminding us that it’s steeped in corruption. Lay aside – put off, put away.
So when we’re tempted to walk in our old ways, and we certainly will be, we’re to make a choice based on our renewed minds. Seeing clearly that our former way of living leads only to death, we can now choose life.
In this divine realization, we’re to put on our new self, turning away from the corruption of the old. “Put on” has the connotation of sinking into as with clothing. It literally means to clothe ourselves. So, since our lives are hidden in Christ, we’re to walk in our new selves, created in righteousness and holiness.
What possible benefit, other than coddling fleeting, empty pleasures can come from engaging our old ways of living? It’s exactly what our enemy wants us to do, but we are not unaware of his lies. Our minds have been renewed.
and do not give the devil an opportunity (Ephesians 4:27 NASB)
Story: Wilborne writes of a friend who was the person inside the Mickey Mouse costume at Disney Land. Reflecting on her time “in Mickey” she felt safe and loved, hidden in a different identity. “She recalled praying, ‘Lord, is this what it’s like to have masses of people run towards you with joy, excitement, and eagerness?'” [2]
Rankin’s friend’s identity changed every time she took the Mickey costume off. Our identify in Christ does not change. The question for us is clear. Do we choose to put off our old self, steeped in corruption, and put on our new identify in Christ?
For me, it’s a moment by moment choice to put off the lies of the enemy and trust that in Christ I walk in newness of life.
In Christ, We Have a New View
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth (Colossians 3:1-2 NASB).
In the above verses, Paul tells us how the truth of our position with Christ should change our perspective.
Even though we physically live on earth, our view is to be from above where we’re spiritually seated with Christ. This means we’re to focus on what God cares about, even in the midst of our daily activities. We’re to keep seeking (require, be about, aim at) the things above. As our days unfolds, our higher desires should be on what God wants, not just a happy life.
What are God’s higher desires for us? Among other things, He’s at work conforming His children into the image of Christ [3]. He wants us to love others as Christ loves us. He desires for our words to be His words and our deeds to be in His strength, that He would be glorified in all we do. [4]
Focusing on what God desires for us, above our personal desires, doesn’t mean a joyless life. In fact, it means just the opposite. Orienting our lives from above means God Himself is our delight, not the trappings of the world. [5] Christ, the Source of all Joy, is our life, no matter what we face.
Story: Like many others, hard circumstances have occurred in my life which I can’t change. And believe me, I’ve tried!
Sad circumstances have threaten to discourage me and steal my joy. But I have a growing trust in what God is doing from His eternal throne. I don’t want to ignore my grief, so I try and invite Him into it, but I don’t walk around in sadness. Over time, and through the difficulties, God is skillfully and lovingly, uncovering the lie that I need happy circumstances to be okay.
From my new view with Christ, I’m more an d more seeing my life from what God is doing to conform me into His image. With this is in mind, joy is growing, even in the midst of pain.
In Christ, We are Complete
For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority (Colossians 2:9-10 NASB);
In the 1600s Bliase Pascal wrote that man’s cravings for true happiness can only be filled with an infinite, immutable object. He wrote that man tries in vain to fill this void with everything around him, seeking in (what is not) only what God Himself can give us. [6] This came to be known as our God shaped void.
To summarize, we were created with an incompleteness that only God can fill .
Incomplete: not having all the necessary or appropriate parts, not full or finished. [7]
Our problem is that, in our nagging sense of need, we attempt all manner of temporal ways to fill the void and feel complete.
Being loved by people
Our success in our different roles
Accumulating possessions
Happiness from smooth circumstances
Overloading our senses by living an epicurean lifestyle
These and other pursuits may partially fill the vastness of our souls, but each leads only to longings for more. We simply can not satisfy the deep longings of our soul with anything temporal.
The word “complete” in the above verse also means to make full, render perfect, fill to the brim, to receive fulfillment.
So, in Christ we’ve received the fulfillment our hearts have longed for. We are filled to the brim with Christ, lacking nothing.
But we must believe it and walk in it.
in Him (Christ) you have been made complete
Story: One evening, a few years ago I felt utterly undone. My heart was filled with failure, disappointment and relational pain. It was close to midnight and I decided to take a walk up our road and across the two lane highway at the top. On the way “out” I surrendered my burdens to God the best I knew how.
When I got to the end of the cul-de-sac across the highway and circled around to head back home, a deep peace invaded my soul. The problems seemed to be overshadowed by the Lord’s nearness. I pondered the truth of my completeness in Christ. I thought of being filled to the brim and overflowing with Christ. In those moments, all the burdens and pains were swept away in the awareness of this marvelous truth.
I’m complete in Christ, in need of nothing, no matter what I face.
Since that time, I’ve sometimes felt the same feelings of discouragement and incompleteness. But, I go back to the truth etched in my heart those years ago.
In Christ Jesus, I’m complete, lacking nothing.
Conclusion
As believers, though we walk on this earth, we’ve been raised WITH Christ into heavenly places. Being “in Christ” is the best description of who we now are.
Though, as long as live on earth, we fight our fleshly tendencies, in Christ we’ve been made new creations. We can now choose to put off our old ways, laced in death, and put on our new selves, in Christ.
In Christ, we’ve been raised above the temporal view. We can see things from God’s greater purposes. As we orient our lives from God’s eternal perspective, what He desires becomes more and more what we want. The sufferings of this world, though very real and painful, do not define us or remain our focus. Setting our minds on God and His Kingdom, fills our hearts with joy, no matter what we face.
In Christ we’ve been made complete. Our deep inner longings, placed in our hearts by Father God, are completely satisfied in Christ. In Christ Jesus, we are completely forgiven, completely loved, completely valued and completely satisfied. In Him, we lack nothing.
Prayer
Lord, Wow! When I ponder these amazing truths about me being in You, it’s beyond belief. But You say it’s true and I trust You. Please help me not to loose sight of these facts as my days get busy and hard. When I’m tempted to try and make life work out for me in my own flesh, please remind me to put off my old self and walk in You, my Life. When I get caught up with the smaller story of how circumstances work out for me, please remind me there’s a greater, much more important story going on; Your story.
When a feel the nagging emptiness of measuring my life by temporal values, please remind me that in You I’m complete. When I’m tempted to live life apart from You, please remind me quickly that I’m in You. Thank you Lord. Amen.
Personal Study
Highlight II Corinthians 5:17-21
Explain it in your own words
Apply it to your life
Respond to God in prayer
[1] Union with Christ, Rankin Wilborne, David Cooke 2016, p. 13
[2] Union with Christ, ibid p. 53
[3] Romans 8:29
[4] I Peter 4:11
[5] Psalm 37:4
[6] Pensées, Blaise Pascal (Published in 1670 after his death)
It could be argued that the main thread of the Bible is God’s desire to be WITH us.
The Creator of the Universe gave up His only Son to have Eternal fellowship with us. But we don’t have to wait until we die. He wants to be with us now.
Ongoing, intimate fellowship with God can begin at the point of our salvation.
Jesus promised it: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23b NASB)
Paul confirmed it: “having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:13b-14 NASB)
What a pledge of our inheritance! GOD HIMSELF, in the form of the Holy Spirit given to us!
Sealed in Him – marked, for security from Satan, concealed and hidden, stamped in order to confirm, to authenticate.
As believers in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit of Jesus indwells us.
In light of this, how do we live?
In what some consider a summary of the Christian life, Galatians 2:20, Paul answers the above question: I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
We died. Christ lives in us now. Our new normal is to live a life of depending on Him to live His life through us.
Our lives are to be marked by the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control exemplified by Jesus’ life on earth.
But how does “Christ lives in me” work out in our everyday lives?
Treasuring God Above all Else
As with other aspects of our Christian lives, living WITH God starts with us realizing, trusting and walking in His love..
God’s love is the reason He rescued us to begin with. Our greatest command is to love Him back. Delighting in God accentuates our longing to be WITH Him.
Skye Jethani, in his book With, writes, “the life with God posture is predicated on treasuring God above all else.” [1] He goes onto say that treasuring the world and a long comfortable life is not a life of living with God.
Our pathway to living out our union with Christ must begin with love for God above all earthly gains: our possessions, success, popularity, comfort, etc.
Our love for God must be absolute. Jesus told his disciples that coming to Him and deeply loving Him, makes human love seem like hate in comparison. [2] Our love for God must be extreme and the more we love Him, the easier it will be to delight in His nearness.
Story: In my human weakness, I sometimes forget that God Himself is my highest delight, especially when I don’t feel love from people who are important to me. During these times, I can easily shift from enjoying the experience of God’s abiding love, to chasing human love to fill my heart cup.
However, more and more an awareness of God’s great love for me is growing. I’m understanding that the love of people are like sprinkles on top of a decadent hot fudge sundae, complete with the dark chocolate sauce, nuts, whip cream and the cherry on top.
God’s love completes me. May I love others out of the abundance of His love, not to try and satisfy my need for love.
Draw near to the One who indwells you and invites you to revel in His love.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth (Psalm 73:25 NASB)
I No Longer Live
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;for he who has died is freed from sin (Romans 6:4-6 NASB).
For me, our crucifixion with Christ has always been hard to comprehend.
How can a person who lives and breathes be dead? To understand, we must seek deeper truths, beyond the temporal.
In the above verse, Paul says our old self has been crucified. Before our flesh reigned, but having been crucified with Christ, it’s been rendered powerless.
However, until we physically die, we can still choose to walk in the old ways of death. This is why Paul warns us, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:12-14 NASB).”
So, on a Wednesday afternoon, in the midst of duties and temptations, how do we live out “I’ve been crucified with Christ and I no longer live?”
Our old fleshly choices have worn paths not easily broken. Even in the splendor of God’s love and His life within, idols and addictions chain our souls. Carnal pleasures, seeped in death, can seem more real and viable than God’s loving presence.
Imagine you were in the Marines and you had a sergeant who was constantly picking on you. Eventually you serve your time and are honorably discharged. As a civilian, you come face to face with your old nemesis on a street corner. Assuming a familiar position of authority, he orders you give him 25 pushups.
Out of habit, you drop and begin churning them out. But then it hits you; you’re free from his reign. He’s lost all authority over you. You stop and walk away. Being a marine is in your past, but that life is behind you. You’re dead to it’s authority and power.
When we’re tempted to walk in our flesh, it’s like meeting that old sergeant. We can still choose to follow Him, but why should we? Now, we can refuse and “present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness to God.For sin shall not be master over us”.
Story: One of my strongest temptations to operating in my “old self” has to do with trying to handle problems in my own strength. Historically, when challenges come I try harder rather than recognizing my weakness and walking in newness of life.
Recently, I fell and severed my quad tendon. I was down the hill from our house at our barn when it happened. When I heard the pop, I knew something had happened, but my first response was to try and stand up and walk. Impossible! Helpless on the ground, all I could do was crawl like a crab and scream for my wife.
During the time of recovery after the surgery, I was helpless. My wife even had to put on my socks. It was a forced time to slow down and realize how little I have to offer. A real life experience of true weakness. What a blessing!
I Live by Faith in the Son of God
I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5 NASB).
After promising to send us the Holy Spirit, in John 14, Jesus gives us an earthly example of what life WITH Him is like.
A wine branch, connected to the sap enriched vine, is able to produce luscious fruit. But, a branch detached from the vine of life, yields nothing but death.
Our lives are like that. Sure, we can busy ourselves with all manner of seemingly good things, but any activity detached from the source of life is life-less, no matter how good it looks.
We’re familiar with a bowl of plastic fruit. Painted up and shinny, it can look so real, so delicious! But try tasting it. There is no life.
Our souls are to be governed by the Holy Spirit, not our flesh.
Jesus commands us to “abide” in Him, His Holy Spirit. Over many years I’ve had two wrong understandings about what this means.
First: that abiding is a level to get to in our maturing process as Christians. Wrong. Abiding is not a level. It’s not a “nice to get to.” Abiding is the process. Abiding is the way Christ is formed in us.
Second: I assumed abiding took great effort. With great strain and discipline I sought to tap into Christ’s life within. Actually, it’s just the opposite. The Greek word translated as “abide” also means to remain, stay, stop, tarry, live or dwell.
We did nothing to be placed in the love of Jesus. God did it. [3] So, abiding is not an effort to get somewhere, its a command to stay where we’ve already been placed. Dwell there, remain there, stay there, tarry there, abide where you’ve been placed. Don’t move.
Story: My wife recently bought us a small plaque which we placed on the window seal above the kitchen sink, where we’ll often see it.
I need Thee every hour.
The longer I live the more I believe these words. Not only do I need to depend on Jesus to know the Father’s will, to speak His words and love in His strength, but I also need Him every second to fill to overflowing my longing heart. I so easily forget and begin to look around me at the world to love me, to deem me successful and to value me.
Lord, show me quickly when I stray.
Conclusion
Living out our new life of total dependence upon God is not an option. The New Testament is saturated with the truth of God being WITH us now. The Holy Spirit of Jesus indwells us. We’re to enjoy His nearness every moment of our lives. Jesus is the source of all joy and life, but we must continually chose life over death.
We’ve been crucified with Christ. We’ve been raised with Him in newness of life. But, we can still be influenced by our old, worn out fleshly patterns. We must recognize our death in Christ and choose to depend upon Him.
By faith, we rest in Christ’s finished work and remain in His love. We yield to His life within us that His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control might be displayed in our lives.
Prayer
Lord, I’m seeing it now. My life with You is not about me following a bunch of rules and trying to pattern my life after Your example in my own strength. I died because You died in my stead. Thank You. You love me so much You want to be with me forever. Please give me a moment by moment dependence upon Your Spirit within me, that I might speak with Your words, serve in Your strength and love with Your love. Please stop me in my tracks when I move ahead of You and try to do anything apart from Your abiding Spirit Amen.
the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints,to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26b-27 NASB).
Personal Study
Highlight Romans 6:4-14
Explain it in your own words
Apply it to your life
Respond to God in prayer
[1] With, Skye Jethani, Thomas Nelson 2011, p. 131
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
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