Sometimes God just amazes me and I don't know why. I should know that He knows to put the right thing in the right place at the right time. I mean, he knows everything. Duh, Brianna. Anyway. I've been feeling REALLY crappy about my job lately and having trouble finding a way to be happy and joyful in the Lord at work. I came across this tonight as I was just playing on the internet. It really made me think. (Note: I stole this, from here: http://www.1way2god.net/tho_joy.html, but I'm don't know anything about the rest of the website!)
I began this 'thought' by defining joy as being characterised by an underlying happiness and thankfulness in the knowledge of the Kingdom to which we all (as believers) belong, taking care to disassociate this from merely appearing to be happy. But appearing happy is part of it too; however, it is the end, not the means. Your response to Christ should make you happier, and being happier should result in appearing happier. Living 'with our eyes on the Kingdom' means that we can no longer claim the right to appear joyless because of a despairing circumstance. How often do we fall into the trap of saying "How can I be joyful under the circumstances?", but as Charles Swindoll points out, Christians are supposed to live above the 'circumstances'.2 If you regularly fail to be happy, you have to ask yourself to what extent you're focusing on this world and forgetting the guaranteed blessings of Christ.
And so I return to the underlying theme of this thought, that joy is an important part of our Christian life, often overlooked, and sometimes completely rejected. Being joyful includes appearing to be happy, but this not as a result of forcing ourselves to smile - it should come as a result of appreciating Christ and knowing God. It's as simple as that. The Christian joy is not to be subject to the earthly situation in which we live, but only to the higher situation of being saved by grace.
When you are letting the weight of this world get you down, ask God to remind you of the world you have to look forward to and the Kingdom to which you already belong; and ask for increased joy in your life as a response to the truth of Christ.
1 comment:
Brianna! I was just looking through some of my old posts and found your comment. Then I went looking furiously through everyone's blogs to find a link to yours!
How are you doing? Your name is mentioned in my "100 things" post...read it and tell me if it doesn't crack you up...all I'm saying is squirrels are involved.
I'm so glad to reconnect and be able to keep up with you and your TWO children! They both look so much like you...little blonde things. Talk to you soon!
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