Monthly Archives: May 2020

Pathways to Joy: Worth by Birth

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By human standards…
historically, in Europe, your worth in society was connected to your birth. In India, the caste system you were born into determined your destiny. In China, your value was determined by your gender. These standards seem harsh and unreasonable, but society today isn’t much different. Society determines someone’s worth by their degree of “success,” the looks they have, the car they drive, or the money that lines their pocket.

But!

By God’s standards... your worth is based on this eternal truth: God created you amazing! Your birth, your very conception, establishes your worth! God told Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you!” In Psalm 139, David celebrates how God shaped him amazingly in his mother’s womb. You, my friend, can say the same! But there’s more!

God delights in you! Genesis 1 describes the creation of the earth and how God declared each component to be. Feel the build-up of excitement as all Heaven waits in anticipation for His crowning creation! In verses 26-27, with a sparkle in His eye, He turns to Jesus and the Holy Spirit and says, “Let us make man in Our image!” He made man and woman in His likeness… with His character, His creativity, His beauty… and then said that this creation was very good! That’s you! That’s me! He delights in us, His creations!

Maybe the circumstances surrounding your birth were less than ideal. Maybe your family dynamics provided minimal love and acceptance. Maybe you see yourself as a failure. Maybe you feel that the way you’ve been treated or the way you’ve treated others defines your worth. Let me ask you this: If you found a crumpled up, dirty, stained, creased, and smelly $50 bill on the ground, would you still pick it up? Yes! Why? Because the worth of the bill is not defined by its condition. Your worth is also not defined by your condition but by your identity as one of God’s amazing creations!

Understanding this, my friend, is a sure pathway to joy! Knowing that the God of all creation delights in YOU, not because of what you’ve done (or not done), not because of what you believe (or don’t believe), not because of how successful, rich, or talented you are (or aren’t), but just because He created you! This understanding will breed a confidence that His delight comes wrapped up in unconditional love for you and that He cares what happens in your life.

Let me share another precious verse with you as you journey down this pathway to joy. Hebrews 12:2 tells us Jesus CHOSE to endure the atrocities of the cross. Why? For “the joy set before Him.” That joy was the knowledge that His sacrifice was laying the foundations for relationship between all of mankind and God! Adam’s sin tainted the bloodline of man preventing us from spending eternity with a Holy God. But Jesus’ sacrifice was the pure offering that atones for the sin of all man! His perfection covers our imperfection and paves the way for us to have eternal relationship with God. The joy Jesus saw in His mind’s eye was you and me! He was willing to lay His life down to have relationship with us! If nothing else has struck a cord with you, let this be it! He loves you that deeply!

Want to know more about what God thinks of you? Grab a Bible or use Biblegateway.com and check out these verses: Deuteronomy 7:6, Zechariah 2:8, Isaiah 43:4, and Galatians 4:6-7.

My prayer for you is that you will know down deep in your soul how much God delights in you as His creation! And as you grasp that truth, you will begin to understand how deeply He loves you just because you are! May this truth bring joy to you today and every day!

Live Loved! Because you truly are!

Pathways to Joy: Identifying Joy

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joy: /joi/ noun meaning a sense of well-being or contentment, a source of delight

Have you ever wondered about the difference between joy and happiness? If so, you are not alone! A perusal of dictionary definitions shows that wordsmiths are confused as well. As a lover of name meanings, you can imagine that I have taken some time to explore my life-long label of joy!

Happiness is not the equivalent of joy. In fact, you can be very happy but lack joy and you can have joy and not feel happy! Trust me… I’ll explain, it’s more than just semantics!

Happiness is dependent on your circumstances, what is happening around you and to you. When you receive a gift you wanted, or your child earns a high grade, or your boss gives you a promotion… you feel happy! That happiness will last as long as your circumstances allow it. Happiness can be stolen by a turn of events: that gift you wanted is broken, your child drops out of school, the new promotion is in another state. Often, we fall into the trap of seeking out people, objects, and experiences that will make us happy… and they often do! But happiness is temporary, leaving us hungry for the next thing to make us feel good again.

The search for joy disguised as happiness has led to failed marriages, strangling debt, overindulgence, and addiction. When we realize that what we thought would bring us joy only brings temporary happiness, we abandon the current process emotionally (mentally checking out of the relationship), physically (leaving the situation), or spiritually (giving up on a faith process).

Conversely, joy is independent of your circumstances. It is a sense of well-being and peace that comes from within. Joy is an underlying sense that no matter what, we will be okay, more than that, we will thrive! Simply put, joy is an inside job! Don’t get me wrong, life throws some serious curve balls! There will be times that you don’t FEEL the joy. There will be times you don’t even want to search for it! BUT! Authentic joy, though rocked by our circumstances, will not be uprooted! Understanding how to find, embrace, experience and sustain joy is intrinsically tied to physical, emotional, and spiritual health. In other words, establishing pathways to joy is so worth it!

I invite your to join me as I explore pathways to joy! Together, we will explore Scripture, discuss practical habits, and identify joy-stealers. I’m a firm believer that ignorance and knowledge are hereditary! What you choose to learn and embrace, you will pass along to your children and your children’s children. Let’s be purposeful about developing a depth of joy that we can share with the precious ones in our lives!

Live Loved,