Waking up each day and then realizing you got a whole night’s sleep, whatever that looks like for you. Walking around in a heated home, with food in the cabinets and the fridge. Maybe the best of all, a COFFEE MAKER.
Tap your phone to listen to Dr. Charles Stanley, Beth Moore, Lisa Harper, or any Gospel-centered preacher of your choice. Tap again to read any version of the Bible you like or any other book, for that matter. And tap one more time to have it read to you.
Press a button to open the garage door and find your key fob to start the car. Make it toasty for the drive to work. Have your check auto deposited, so your bills can be automatically paid.
Click a few boxes to buy groceries and even have them delivered. And then, for the truly brave, there’s Alexa. I’m not there yet.
The basis for joy
All of this to say, life can be much easier by taking advantage of some of these technologies. And these systems should give us more time for the more important things in life, like activities that bring joy. Things like reading, taking a walk, playing with the kids, planting a garden. Whatever makes you smile.
So why do we still struggle to find joy? Because joy isn’t based on systems or what we have, but who we have.
Jesus.
The life-enhancing systems we set up are awesome when they work, but they can all fail. Just think about your Wi-Fi connection as you try to work from home and get the kids connected for an online school day. Need I say more?
Going beyond awesome
Accepting Jesus as the Savior of your soul should take us beyond awesome to embracing the awe of what the Father has done already. It should bring us immense joy. Let’s see what Psalm 8 says about this.
1 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
2 You have taught children and infants
to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
and all who oppose you.
3 When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
the moon and the stars you set in place—
4 what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
5 Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority—
7 the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
9 O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
— Psalm 8 (NLT)
And then, God doesn’t become exasperated with us because of our unwillingness to enjoy His gifts. No, God is not irritated with our failures to recognize His gifts. Instead, He fully accepts us in all our weaknesses and makes us alive in Christ.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
–Ephesians 2:4-10 (NASB)
Top that smartphone! Technology is just one example of ways to save us time, but that time shouldn’t be reallocated to more work or wasted scrolling.
Why not use it to pursue joy?
A message to friends that don’t know Jesus
While we all have access to the beauty of creation that David wrote about in Psalm 8, we don’t all have the same access to the gift of grace Paul wrote about in Ephesians 2.
I encourage you to get to know Jesus. The best way to learn more about Jesus is in the Bible. The Gospel of John is a great place to start. If you don’t have a bible, there are plenty of free apps available. Try YouVersion, Bible Gateway, Blue Letter Bible, or Bible Study Tools for starters.
Then find a bible-based church. And take your time with this one because you are looking for a church family.
God freely gives grace to all those who accept Jesus by faith because He loves you (John 3:16). I encourage you to seek Jesus, but you won’t have to look far because He is already near.
18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.
–Psalm 145:18-19 (ESV)
Joy reflections
- Most of us have used life-enhancing technology or find other ways to make life easier, which typically translates to saving time. Have you filled the extra time with things that bring you joy?
- How can you move beyond awesome to embracing awe of what the Father has done already?
- List three things you would like to learn, see or do for the sole purpose of bringing more joy into your life.
This post is part of the #Write28Days writing challenge. The prompt today is AWE and I squeezed in EXASPERTED (from Day 8) in a desperate attempt to keep up. You can’t blame a girl for trying. Check out the other great writers participating in this challenge. Thanks to Anita Ojeda for host the event.
Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash
