Christian Living

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The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by other people. So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another. {Romans 14:17-19 NCV}

I find it so incredibly easy to lose sight of the bigger picture ("the important things") and in turn....lose my mind! Has anything like this ever happened to you??

You wake up in time to have an awesome session of one on one with the Lord, you're getting everything done with time to spare, you caught a crazy sale at the mall and more importantly, God is really making a way for you in personal matters. GOD IS GOOD! It's a beautiful spring day so you're driving along with the windows down and the praise and worship music blasting - you and the kids are singing it loud and proud for all the world to hear. You're feeling so good today you even stop to let someone out of a driveway even though your light is green. You motion to let the driver know they can go....you wait....you motion again.....you're still waiting. Finally, you think, Forget it! I was trying to be nice, but I don't have all day to wait for this moron to get a clue! Just as you begin to accelerate passed this intellectually challenged individual, he decides it's now safe for him to proceed. You both slam on the brakes! The other driver is confused and quite annoyed, and it shows as he throws both hands in the air! Though your light is now red, your ears are hot and one eye has started to twitch, you quickly give one last ditch effort 'to do what Jesus would do'. You gesture for him to go.....just as he motions for you to go and again you both slam on the brakes to avoid another near collision. Instead of throwing up his hands in frustration, this time it's just the one finger. Suddenly, all the simple things God has given you pleasure in today are now distant memories. You scream in an alarmingly loud and evil tone: "JUST GOOOOO IDIOT!!" Hmmmm....That was harsh...(you think)...well, the music's loud...maybe no one heard me. Confirmation to the contrary follows immediately in the form of echoes from the yelling toddler in the back seat - "JUST GO! JUST GO! JUST GOOOOOOOOOO IDIOT!!!" all while the gentleman in the other car promptly reverses back into the driveway in fear of you AND the God to whom you were just singing. You spend the rest of the day justifying your words and actions to yourself and anyone who will listen, and every molecule of joy you had earlier has been wiped out entirely.

What just happened? God gave you the wonderful gift of joy that could have and should have overflowed into someone else's circumstance, but instead, you chose not only to give up your portion of joy, but you also sowed seeds of negativity into someone else's life. And for what? You were in no hurry, and who knows if the other driver even saw your first attempt of generosity? The enemy has used this situation to pull you back down to his level, AND he has used YOU to trample the hope of another.

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; 17pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. {1 Thessalonians 5:15-16}


Probably not how it would have gone down if Jesus were in the driver's seat!

This sort of thing is an everyday occurrence for most of us! I call these happenings The Joy Snatchers! It takes SO MUCH convincing and supernatural WORK in our hearts to get us high on our Father's love, but just the slightest vexation will send us to "the dark side" in seconds!!

Just the other day, WHILE I was having some devotional time with the Lord, my son climbed into the bed, closed my Bible, smacked me in the face with a foot and pulled my hair.....all at once..............need I explain what happened next? It was all a blur, really, but I know there was yelling, pushing and tears involved!

Remember, the evil one is a master at exploiting our weaknesses! He knows that I don't struggle with hurting people or stealing so he preys on the area where I'm most vulnerable - my HOT temper!! During this week, the Lord has certainly shined the spotlight on some smudges in my life that need a good scrubbing!

Keep your eyes focused on what is right, and look straight ahead to what is good. {Proverbs 4:25 NCV}

May I suggest you identify the areas in your life where your defenses are the most feeble. How? Consider the recurring issues/problems in your everyday life. If something or someone is almost always involved in some capacity, that weak spot may be just the vehicle the devil needs to penetrate your life and steal your joy! The best thing we can do is PRAY! Ask God to remove these troublesome character flaws, circumstances or people from your life. Then, find something to learn, and grow from that experience. Finally, remember we have to answer for OUR conduct in EVERY circumstance. Don't let Satan, through people or situations, determine YOUR attitude and snatch up YOUR joy!! Whether you have a bothersome boss, offensive family members, your bills are over due or you ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere - look passed that moment because God is still God and you are still blessed to know Him so HOLD ON TIGHT TO YOUR JOY!

So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne. Think about Jesus' example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying. {Hebrews 12:1-3}

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