“Praise
be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us
with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 1:3 Darby Version
At
church about 2 weeks ago, part of the message was about not letting
circumstances determine your joy (or lack thereof). Have you ever
thought about how much circumstances affects how we feel, our
emotions and thoughts? I’m amazed how quickly calm can turn into
rage, and sorrow into joy.
I’ve
thought on this quite a bit, and it seems to come up in conversations
all over the place. It came up in a devotion I was looking at today
(the verse is also reoccurring):
“Let’s
ask ourselves [a] question. Am I living today as one who has been
blessed with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenlies in Christ
Jesus? If you are anything like me, the answer is probably not. Yet
it is a promise I can live in because God has done it, He has blessed
me this way. But how do I receive spiritual blessing, that walking in
the joy of knowing Jesus even when circumstances around me are less
than perfect?” (Quote from Gail Rodgers in SO
HOW ARE YOU DOING SPIRITUALLY?)
This
week I have not been living like I’m walking in spiritual blessings.
I have let my circumstances determine my emotions, a lot of joy has
been robbed. I’ve tried to fight against it, but it felt overpowering
to me; the plumbing not working for almost a week, being snowed in,
my sister going to the ER, my mom feeling under the weather, and all
of that is on top of the normal holiday stress that includes packing
my life for an eleven month trek.
feel a little bit of hypocrite, talking with people about not letting
circumstances steal their joy, all the while being angry and even
anxious about my situations this week. As I talk with some of my
teammates I keep thinking, “I need to refocus, I need to refocus.”
So here I am trying not to focus on all that I have been, all the
worldly things around me. I want to live out as one blessed with all
the spiritual blessings. I need to refocus on what’s important, God’s
presence. By doing this, I think I will overcome letting circumstance determine my joy and rule my emotions.
I
want my joy to stem from God, that way it is solid. It’s not subject
to the whim of the latest toy, or things not going my way, or even
what is going on in my life at this very moment. This kind of joy is
unshakable as it stands on Christ, the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), and
can only be found by seeking him.
