Lord, I can feel it happening again. I’ve allowed the broken things around me to affect my mood. It’s subtle. One day I feel good only because of Your nearness. But, after a few days of pleasant happenings, my heart wants to latch on to what I see unfolding before my eyes. Then brokenness happens and my joy is stolen. I return again to the truth that You are my Hope, my Joy, my Life.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:2-4 NASB)

Lord, please show me how to orient my life from the eternal truths that I died and my life is now hidden safely in You. I’m in You and You’re in me. You are my life. Please help me understand this amazing truth more fully so that it can govern my moments and my days?

This world is such a broken place. Broken health, broken relationships, broken finances, possessions and societies, broken hearts. I love it when I see healing happening, when I watch God mending broken things. However, I never want an improvement in circumstances to shift my heart to temporal things.

Lately, I’m becoming aware much quicker of the wanderings of my heart to latch onto the things of this world. Even when things are going well, emptiness begins to set in. The decaying brokenness of life is a hollow source of hope and joy.

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (II Corinthians 4:16-18 NASB)

When I dwell on the brokenness of life, counting on things to get better for me to be okay, I’m setting my mind on the temporal things of this earth. On the other hand, when I orient my life from the eternal standpoint that I’m hidden in Christ and He is now my life, I’m attaching my heart to a hope and joy which is rock solid in the midst of any storm.

Christ is my Life

I’m at church, worshipping and celebrating our foundation in Christ. The experience correlates to what God is teaching me. I sing that being loved by Christ is who I am, that I am who He says I am. I hear that I’m in Christ and He’s in me.

When I ask God to show me from His word what it means for Him to be my life, these truths come to mind from His standpoint:

•      Since I’m your life, I’m your identity. I adore you and delight to be with you. Being my beloved child is absolutely who you are. Trying to gage who you are from what people think of you, how they treat you, how successful you are or anything else is nothing compared to your value in Me. I created you, redeemed you with My life and have safely hidden you away in My love. This is who you are.
•      Since I’m your life, I’m your source. Having been forgiven, lavished by My grace and adopted into My family, I sealed you with My Holy Spirit. I Indwell you. You were crucified with Me and raised to newness of life. You don’t have to weary yourself out trying to live the Christian life in your own strength. Come to Me and stay with Me. Take My yoke upon you and depend on My Spirit to be your life.
•      Since I’m your life, I’m your reason. The reason you live each day is now completely different. Getting all your tasks done with the least amount of problems is no longer your goal. The command I have for you is for you to love others as I’ve loved you. This begins with your identity in My love. From this secure vantage point, duties become the path to people and problems are no longer mortal enemies. In fact, they become your reason to depend upon Me more intently.

This past week I began teaching a 16 week corporate training class on mainframe programming. As I taught, I noticed one of my students had a big grin on his face. I figured his teammate had said something funny. However, as the day wore on, I saw he was still smiling. The whole day, every day, he smiles. His countenance encourages me. One day, I’ll ask him the reason for his outward joy, but today I’m challenged by his example.

Christ is my life. He’s my identity. I can rest from seeking value in any temporal thing. He’s my source. I can rest, abide, yield to His strength and not have to muster it up myself. He’s my reason for living each day. I don’t have to search for something meaningful to live for, some fun time ahead to give me a reason for joy. Christ Himself is my Joy, my Reason.

Why wouldn’t I smile?

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.

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 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