Day 10: The Greatest Gift of All

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." John 3:16-17

I’ve found that a lot of Christians have this mindset that in order to prove your salvation to others you must live in a very dark and dismal world of joyless, relentless service to the Lord. While service to God never ends, it is far from joyless. The only reason you may see pastors or Christians with a lack of joy in their ministry is because they have a false focus on who they are serving. Any Christian with Christ as the forefront of all things will be found doing all things with joy and compassion. In fact, because we have Christ in our lives, we should be the greatest examples of a joyful life. Why should you be sad when you have forgiveness and a home in Heaven?

I’m not great at showing emotion. I’m really not that great at describing or articulating certain things that I feel. I was diagnosed with ADD when I was younger and maybe that has something to do with it, but just because I don’t always show joy doesn’t mean that I am joyless. In fact, I rarely show worry or anger either. I‘m kind of emotionless when it comes to presenting how I’m feeling. I often don’t know how to react and when God does something big I feel overwhelmed (in a good way). But joy, that is a hard, if not impossible, emotion to fake. You can fake caring, you can fake love, and you can fake concern, but when you really enjoy something you are doing you can see it even in the darkest times.

When we know Christ (and I mean genuinely know and love Him) we cannot fake the joy that overcomes our life. We don’t need to think about the negatives of this world all the time. We should be cautious, of course, but we don’t need to dwell on it for our walk with God. If we cannot express genuine joy in our walk with God, we must really think about what our focus is really on. I guarantee it isn’t God. We’ve all been in that state of mundane melodrama before, and the end results are always the same. Sin has entered into someone’s life, and that sin is corrosive and it causes everyone around that person to experience the corrosion and we all suffer for it.

One bad seed should not slow you from finding joy in service to God. One bad example should not keep you from being the necessary example of a joyful servant. If someone’s example in the church has kept you from being an example yourself, all you do is add to the problem and you are no different or no better than they are. Be the example you want to see in the Christian life. Even more so, be the example that Christ has already set for you. Just follow Him, and be more like Him in every situation. The greatest gift of all is the love of God, and YOU can show others this same love by following the examples that God has given you.