Christian Living

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Written 2-17-04

Introduction:

These four articles are inspired from a book I once read some time ago called “Hot Tub Religion” by J.I. Packer. It was my intention to elaborate on something he had mentioned in this book about the discipline of joy.


Source No. 1: The awareness that one is loved by God. (Jeremiah 31:3, John 3:16; Rom. 5:5, 8; 8:32, 38-39)

There is an eternal love we all can look to. This love was expressed on the cross of Jesus Christ. I find that when I lose sight of this love and begin to doubt all I have to do is remember how my God expressed His love to me in the grace He poured when His Son’s blood poured.

The Lover of my soul, I find, is One who is not satisfied in giving me Jesus, even though He’s more than enough. My Father has given me His Word and His Spirit. His Spirit has given me His gifts, His tutorship and His guidance.

My Lord’s love is stubborn. It will persist in the worst of tribulations. I may have to wait a while to see it manifest, but it will come. Even then, His love comes through His letter of love and I am given strength to endure. His love is ever-present. In fact, I find strength enough to bless and encourage others. I would be a selfish fool to keep it all to myself. My hope in Him is not disappointed because of His love.

His love manifests itself to me in spiritual rest and peace when I turn and focus on the Lover of my soul. He is One whose love I can run to, hide in and find refuge. The lovingkindness of my King takes my burdens and makes them His own. With my burdens removed there is nothing prohibiting me from coming to His throne of grace with reverent confidence.

It is much like when I have a busy day. I live in a city that has an amazing view of mountains. They are always there, and yet when I get so busy I fail to stop and look at them to appreciate them again. When I make a choice to be still or just think of the fact that those mountains existence, their existence becomes apparent to me. All I have to do is consider this fact, then those mountains are looming in my existence. So it is with the love of God. It is always there. Yet when I focus on it I have joy.

It is my Lord’s love shown in kindness and it is this same kindness that motivates me to repent from sin. In my broken-hearted and contrite state I find He is near me, ready to bind me up. I am then used by Him, faithfully, to bind up the wounds of others. I have found He loves to use broken things; just look at His Son’s body or Paul’s life. A broken thing has nothing to brag about except about the One who mends it.

This love is also revealed to me through the Father’s children. The Master’s disciples, when they express their concern for me, show the Lord’s love for me as a reminder through them.

Maintaining joy will often mean being reminded by the Word and one another of our God’s love. It is this same joy that is a source of strength to get through the rocky times.

Source no. 2: Submitting to one’s situation as good. (Gen. 50:20; Psalm 138:8; Rom. 8:28-29; James 1:2; II Thess. 5:17)

This is the simple truth of submission to the Lord’s will, Him being our sole source of all that is good, for He alone is good.

Jesus spoke of the Father as wanting only what is good for His children, concerning His Holy Spirit. Paul spoke of all things working for the good to those that love the Lord. James said to count (assess) our trials with joy. These can only be such a way with a God who is completely and perfectly good.

Is it possible much of our unhappiness actually comes from our unwillingness to
acquiesce to the truth that where we are at is for our own good? While there are times we are simply suffering the consequences of sin, there are times when, even though we are being obedient, we are not joyful. It is these times when we are discontent with the will of our perfectly good Father. This is sin against the Lord because it reflects doubt about God’s goodness and makes Him a liar.

Recently, I have had to come to the conclusion that I was at a good place in my walk with the Lord. Being single during the whole time that I have been a believer, 12 years as of this writing, I had to make a decision that that my situation of being single was for good. For a long time I had a struggle with this because of how much I wanted to be married.

One day, I finally decided to just simply trust that I was single because that is what the Lord wanted for my life. Being that He is the Lord, it is the best, or good, that the Lord judged for me. Then, something amazing happened. I found myself very content and at peace with my life. This was just the beginning because not only was I happy I found myself overcoming many struggles that had lingered throughout my whole life as a believer. My attitude change in serving; I was much more available to many opportunities to serve. All these things combined gave me a deeper sense of what it meant to have the abundant life Jesus had talked about. Since then, my life has continued be much fuller and happier once I had resigned to the truth that my situation was good as a single disciple for the Lord.

I must say that I simply gave up the idea of ever being married. I cannot say that this is the case for the rest of my life, that I will meet the Lord as a single man. It is just that I have decided it would be fine for me if I never get married, because of the Lord’s goodness for me. He has become my whole sufficiency for every aspect of my life, even the physical side. I can truly say I am not afraid to be single for the rest of my life.


Source no. 3: The possession of something worthwhile from God. (Matt. 11:28-29; John 17:3; Acts 3:19; Phil. 3:8-10).

I ask you to picture eternal life. It is more than being saved and destined for heaven, a renewed creature, granted divine pardon and imputed righteousness. Eternal life is opportunity, in the here and now, to come to know intimately God the Father, and the One whom He sent, God the Son.

I can look at each day as a privilege to know God in a deeper, more meaningful way. Yesterday I knew Him better than the day before. I know Him better today and I will come to know Him even to a greater extent tomorrow and the day after. Because God is great I can expect greater encounters with Him.

Awareness of this only caused my heart to yearn for Him all the more. Like the Psalmist, I have become like the deer thirsting for His living water. I can taste and see for myself that He is indeed good. By His Spirit I am enabled to experience the fullness of Joy in His presence.

In His light all things material pale in comparison, all other relationships have become secondary, any prestige to be found in earthly possessions or offices seem trivial and any struggle grows insignificant. All these things I am ready to let go if it means I will come to know my King more.

To God thanks is given for the trials that cause me to cling to Him tighter because in those times we are more intimate. Truly, those times are so precious to me in retrospect. In those times I see His mighty hand move and His love prevail righteously through the tribulation.

Before His face I find rest and peace that surpasses any understanding. After time with Him I am refreshed and strengthened and I have learned more of Him. I find wonder in the fact that this is all because He chooses to make Himself available to me for He says, “Come to Me…”

Ask me what is most valuable to me and I will tell you it is not my life or what I have. It is not what I do or what I know. What I value most is my fellowship with the Father, my communion with the Son, and my walk with the Holy Spirit. I am truly rich!


Source no. 4: Giving something worth giving from God. (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 20:35b)

This is probably the most important source mentioned in this article because it involves how we can impact and make a change on the life of another, especially in light of eternity.

If we really believe in the sufficiency and goodness of the Lord then we must have come to the conclusion that this is just too good to keep to ourselves. Even the Word of God states about itself that we have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness. What is biblically godly is obviously acceptable to the Biblical God. The initial point of this truth is the Gospel itself, from where we have all come to begin to learn about the goodness of the Biblical God.

Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. This must especially be true when we share how the Lord has changed our lives. What is interesting is in the original Greek the Great Commission in Matt. 28 states in a way that says that this should be a natural aspect of our lives as believers of Jesus. A way to translate this more clearly would be “As you go, make disciples of all nations…” In other words, as we move about in our daily lives we will eventually tell someone about the Lord we love and live for just as we would talk about any other person we love.

What is freeing about this is that if we act on the basis of the love we have for Jesus, then we will not feel like we “have” to tell someone, as if we were being motivated by guilt. We will only tell them because we want to, because the love of Christ compels us.

Many of us may have had the experience of seeing someone come to faith in the Lord. We remember the joy of knowing that they are saved, and later start to see the results of that salvation in a change life. We can recall those who showed a fervor in wanting to understand the will of God revealed in His Word. The joy is from knowing they will not go to hell and knowing that we decided not to be selfish about what we know to be true.


Implications and responsibilities (Phil. 4:4; James 1:22; 4:17)

I believe that the meaning of all of this is that joy is a gift in the sense that it is a gift with responsibility. To do these things mentioned takes a choice to see one’s existence with a Biblical world view; a perspective that is on the verge of being similar to the Lord’s. This is a matter of discipline, from the discipline of prayer through the discipline of having a working knowledge of scripture to the discipline of thought and action. We have been given something to be joyful about when many believers are failing to see this. They are allowing circumstances to inhibit the joy and the abundant life they can have in the Lord, by doing what He commands. We have been given much, so we are required much. Joy is a discipline as much as it is a feeling or attitude.

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