God created us so we could live a life that pleases Him. The life of man relates to God because “…in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). This responsibility is not a difficult one. If we’ll just live for God, who knows what marvelous things might happen in our life and what joy we will have? But if we live our life without Him, in the end it won’t have any lasting meaning. Yet sadly most Christians don’t have the slightest idea about how they should be living for God.
The most important person in our life should be Jesus. If we’ll just welcome Him into our heart, our life and thinking will be totally changed.
Jesus Wants to Live Through Us
Jesus doesn’t ask us to do what we aren’t able to do by our own effort. His desire is to live His life through us, instead of us trying to live for Him. The most important person in our life should be Jesus. If we’ll just welcome Him into our heart, our life and thinking will be totally changed. All who have given their lives to Him and believe in Him have become living examples of the message of hope He brings.
It should be our desire to live for Him, so that our life will count for Him. When the time comes for us to die, our soul and spirit will continue to live forever, while our body will go back to the earth it came from. But if we have given our life to God, then our soul will last forever, and we will receive a new body that will be glorified. We’ll therefore be able to live forever!
We Looking for Love and Chasing After Emotions
The one missing thing this world is constantly looking for is love. Jesus spoke to the world with love and tender sympathy, but He only received hatred and rejection in return. Solomon spent his entire life trying to find love, happiness and contentment. In the end he could only say, “All is empty, all is vanity” (see Ecclesiastes 12:8). Most of the world today is also chasing wildly after happiness and contentment. But these can only provide a short-term emotional experience, while joy can provide a spiritual experience without end.
Happiness is an emotion. Happiness is also constantly changing. How quickly it can turn to despair if our external situation varies. The Lord has not promised us happiness, because He knows it won’t last.
Joy is Constant, Happiness is Always Changing
There’s an immense difference between happiness and joy. Our emotions can change very rapidly. Happiness is an emotion. Happiness is also constantly changing. How quickly it can turn to despair if our external situation varies. The Lord has not promised us happiness, because He knows it won’t last. Once we find His will, and get into it ourself, we’ll find joy—the true form of happiness that will last. If we want to be His disciple, “Lord, not My will but Thine” is what He wants to hear from us—which means that we give our will up to Him. We need to fully surrender to Christ.
It’s His desire for our joy to be full, and this fullness relates to our prayer life. When we spend time praying to our heavenly Father, and then see Him working in answer to prayer, we can experience so much joy. The last time Jesus talked with His disciples, He told them about the fullness of His joy that they were going to receive. He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11).
His promise to us is His joy, which goes much deeper than our emotional level. It’s a continuing joy that doesn’t vary. Our outward happenings might rapidly change, but joy isn’t subject to change according to external events, since it’s continual. “…in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Psalm 16:11).
He Becomes Our New Power Source
When we find God, we find joy, life and peace! This becomes a new power source that wants to put something different in us, which is the fruit of the Spirit—joy, love, peace, etc. We’ll be able to offer up praise on our way to overcoming victory, power and joy! He is all that really matters!
If we’ll put Jesus first in every aspect of our life, we’ll never again be without joy—and we’ll know that we can endure!
“…Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame…” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus is speaking of His joy here, but He said this right before He went to the Cross. Now He’s asking us to bear our own cross. For all of life’s problems, the answer will always be Jesus.
He’s called us to live a godly life, and He desires to be foremost in every facet of our life. “Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9). If we’ll put Jesus first in every aspect of our life, we’ll never again be without joy—and we’ll know that we can endure!
“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
Romans 15:13
[Additional image credits: Featured image (when applicable) by James Kovin on Unsplash; Opening photo by Patrick Schätz on Unsplash]
