Jesus, “will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation”; then our joy will rise within us like an artesian spring—for our refreshment and the blessing of others” (Ps.85:6–7, pp Jn.4:14, 7:38-39)
Loving Jesus, I begin my day thankful for candor and care of your Word. When you diagnosis a condition in us, you always resource your children with more grace. Today I’m thinking about our perpetual need for Gospel renewal and the renewal of our joy.
When I hear the apostle Paul ask believers in Galatia, “What has happened to all your joy?” (Gal. 4:15), there are multiple ways the devil seeks to sabotage our joy—primarily through his lying, seducing, and condemning ways. But we are quite capable of starving and squashing our joy without the help of demons and darkness.
All it takes is a few days (hours) of disregarding the Gospel for us and then entering an unchecked stretch of criticizing and resenting others. That will shut down our joy faster than higher taxes will raise our dander. Other ways we pour cold water on our joy is by spending less and less time in rich, robust fellowship with you Jesus, and more time…
- Pampering ourselves into mediocrity rather filling our hearts with eternity.
- Letting “not-so-social-media” narrate how we think about the world and everything else
- Falling or jumping back into legalism and performance-based living. Only heaven will fully heal our grace-allergies.
- Taking iPhone selfies and pics of cool places we visit but losing any profound sense of worship and wonder as we see your hand and heart in creation, behold your beauty there and linger in your presence.
Jesus, rescue us from us. Your joy is our strength; but you yourself are our everything. So Very Amen.
