14th Jan, 2023
'I came so that everyone would have life... in its fullest." Jn 10:10 CEV
Your lungs need oxygen to thrive, your body needs food to thrive, and your soul needs joy to thrive.
How can you tell when someone is joy-deprived? By how they look and what they say. One Bible teacher says: "When I began to understand John 10:10...I realized the enemy had deceived me into thinking that enjoying things was not important...I had come to believe-falsely, of course--that if I was having fun, something was wrong...I must not be working hard enough! I never saw my father enjoy life and it seemed to aggravate him when others did, so I just grew up thinking something must be wrong with it. I can remember being told to be quiet when I laughed out loud…
The seventeenth-century...[writer] Madame Guyon said that the highest call for every child of God is to enjoy God. I remember what a heavy load lifted off of me the first time I read that...
I was working so hard trying to please God that the thought of simply enjoying Him had not occurred to me at all. I had never heard of such a thing!...I had been a committed church member for over twenty years before I learned that God wanted me to enjoy Him and the life He had given me." Can you relate? If so, it's time to make some changes in your life. Take a break without feeling guilty; you will be much more productive when you're rested and refreshed.
Recreation is not "unspiritual"; it's essential to staying in balance. We live in a driven, stressed-out society, but you can change; you can be joyful if you choose to.
I You can be joyful if you choose to.
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