"THE MARCH IN THE JOURNEY"
"Well done, my good and faithful servant . . . Come, share in my joy!" (Matthew 25:23)
In modern Christianity there is a great deal of emphasis on the joy of living a God-guided life. Joy is the subject of countless sermons, books, and personal testimonies. I wonder, though, if we have reached a point where the expectation of Christian joy is over-emphasized or its meaning misunderstood.
Has your life been a consistently joyous journey? Mine hasn't. Frankly there are times in which my walk with Christ seems like a march, not a journey, and a toilsome one at that. During those joyless times, I have wondered if something in my life was amiss or askew, or if my faith was somehow faulty.
Over time, those concerns have given way, and my long-held perspective on joy has given me stamina for the marches within my journey. Joy is not an emotion evoked by a sense of well-being. Joy is a gift ... a reward for a job well done, for faithfulness with much or little, for trusting when we cannot see.
During the stretches between the promise and the reward, we do well to concentrate on the march, not on how we feel as we move forward. Joy will come! It is our heart's response to the Spirit's whisper, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, share in My joy!"
In modern Christianity there is a great deal of emphasis on the joy of living a God-guided life. Joy is the subject of countless sermons, books, and personal testimonies. I wonder, though, if we have reached a point where the expectation of Christian joy is over-emphasized or its meaning misunderstood.
Has your life been a consistently joyous journey? Mine hasn't. Frankly there are times in which my walk with Christ seems like a march, not a journey, and a toilsome one at that. During those joyless times, I have wondered if something in my life was amiss or askew, or if my faith was somehow faulty.
Over time, those concerns have given way, and my long-held perspective on joy has given me stamina for the marches within my journey. Joy is not an emotion evoked by a sense of well-being. Joy is a gift ... a reward for a job well done, for faithfulness with much or little, for trusting when we cannot see.
During the stretches between the promise and the reward, we do well to concentrate on the march, not on how we feel as we move forward. Joy will come! It is our heart's response to the Spirit's whisper, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. Come, share in My joy!"
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