- We come to God because none of us have it within ourselves, except momentarily, to be joyous
- Joy is a product of abundance; it is the overflow of vitality
- We can decide to center ourselves in the God who generously gives and not in our own egos which greedily grab
- Joy is what God gives; not what we work up
I remember singing a bunch of songs in church growing up as a kid:
- The j-o-y of the Lord is my strength
- I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart-where?
- Ha-Ha-Ha-le-lu-jah He-He-He saved me ....I've got the joy of the Lord
And, studying Psalm 126 with Peterson as my teacher, I learn again why joy is second only to love in the list of fruit of the spirit. Of course, we must love. But, second to that, we must express and exude joy! As we discussed in our group last night, this has very little to do with our present circumstances and everything to do with our attitude of surrender to Christ.
Billions of dollars are spent on entertainment worldwide. All spent in search of...joy. Some of that money buys real happiness. For a moment. It is fleeting.
We who follow after Christ have access to something eternal, lasting, and real. And, it doesn't result in a headache the next day either!
Joy to you today.
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