JOY – Jesus, Others, Yourself

Israel

Israel

Hey everybody! I just want to start this post off by saying thank you to everyone who has given me feedback on my blog. It is encouraging for me to hear how it is impacting lives. That was always my goal in the first place, so it makes it all worth it!

Well, the snow has come fast here in the little town of Woodford. Personally, I don’t mind it as it makes for a cozy atmosphere and gets me pumped for Christmas. Speaking of Christmas, it is one of my favourite holidays. I enjoy the music, gifts, food, and vacation time. I think one of my favourite parts is simply spending time with family and friends. It’s great to be able to just have a good time together. Time spent with those you love is precious and extremely valuable. And best of all, at Christmas we get to celebrate the birth of Christ, the greatest gift of all. Yes, all in all, I enjoy Christmas and the season surrounding it very much.

I haven’t talked about sports for a bit, so let’s talk about the Leafs! They’re on a California road trip and played pretty well against the Kings. 3/6 on the Power Play in a 5-1 win which is great to see. They also got a 5-3 win in San Jose where they haven’t won in a few years. I’m guessing they’re soaking up some California sun. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me! Now it’s just time for them to get on a roll! I can never predict what they will do though. But hey, they out shot an opponent for two games in a row! That must be a record for them! I’m so impressed! Of course, they then allowed 45 shots to the Sharks. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted!

J-O-Y

For this post, I want to talk about something that’s kind of been on my heart lately. As a kid, I learned about the acronym “JOY”. The idea is that in order to have true joy you need to put Jesus first, Others second, and Yourself last. When I was young, it was something easy to remember and pretty catchy, but I didn’t think about it a whole lot. Lately, however, I have been thinking about these three concepts.

1. Jesus – First off, God has to be number one in life. He has to be at the centre of your life, the focus of your heart, and top priority. As I’ve stated many times in earlier posts, the overall and complete purpose in life is to bring glory to God. We can only do that with excellence if God is first in our lives. It sounds simple, but the truth is that we can put so many other things before God. Anything in the place of God is an idol. Whether it be relationships/people, sports, food, academics, music, or a whole host of other things, anything that takes a throne on our heart instead of God is an idol and it is wrong. Personally, I know that I struggle with this at times. I desire God to be first in my life. I know it is right and often God is first. However, sometimes even subconsciously in a sense, I get distracted from this focus and other things fill my mind and take this place. It’s a constant battle and I know the truth, but in my fallen nature, I can and often do put other things before God. This is sin, simple and right to the point. It is something I need to repent of and seek God’s help in this matter. When God is first in my life, I do experience a greater sense of joy because my fulfillment is found completely in Him. He is my Lord, Creator, Saviour, Sustainer, Provider, Redeemer, and everything that I need. I can only experience complete and true joy when my focus is directly on Him and He is at the centre of my life. Perhaps you have an idol or idols in your life that you need to let go of and put God first in your life. I encourage you to take some time and ask God to show you anything that may be taking the number one place in your life instead of Him. Once He shows you, confess and repent of your sin and keep Him at the centre of your life. Listen to Him and follow His will for your life. This is the path to the greatest joy and fulfillment that you can ever experience. Remember, God created you. If you have placed your trust in Jesus and accepted Him as your Saviour, God has also saved you. He deserves to be worshiped and to occupy the number one, centre position in your life.

2. Others – Secondly, others should be next, after God, but before yourself. I’m going to be frank and honest here. It is so easy to get wrapped up in ourselves, in our own lives, We focus on how we can get ahead, how we can get attention, how we can have success, and on and on and on. It all becomes about me,me,me. I know I’m not telling you anything new here, and you’ve probably heard this many times before. Unfortunately, we often don’t get it and that’s why it needs to be repeated over and over again. Life is not about us. It never was and never will be about us. It is about God and bringing glory to God. What does God want us to do? He wants us to love our neighbour. This brings God glory and should be enough motivation to go out and love people. I’m not going to pretend anything. I can improve greatly in this matter. I am often selfish and think about myself and my own perceived needs. But if my focus is on myself, I am blind to the needs of the people around me. I am blind to the encouragement I could be giving, the help I could be giving, the love I could be giving to other people. It’s something that I’ve really thought about lately. I’m going to be honest. At times, it breaks my heart, because I see all the people in this world that need hope, encouragement, help, love. If I can just get past myself… If I can just show Christ to them… I sometimes imagine a world where everyone is focused on helping and loving each other instead of themselves. What would that look like? Now, I know that that will never happen on this earth because of sin, but what will heaven look like in this regard? Although it will never look perfect now, I have been trying to make more of an effort to just give people encouragement, help, time, love. It can make a huge difference and you know what? I find that when I am helping and loving other people, I indeed experience a greater sense of joy in my life because I am simply following what God intended in the first place! I want to encourage you the reader, right now, get your mind off yourself and help, encourage, love another person. Point them to God. Ask God to bring someone to mind and then listen and obey His direction. Maybe this would involve an act of service or an encouraging message, etc. Think about it for a moment. Technology has made it possible to reach so many people in so many different ways. It’s so easy! But… you have to choose to do it! Loving others is worth it and brings true joy. Most importantly, God said to love your neighbour, so it brings glory to God. That is all the motivation you should need.

3. Yourself – Finally, you should be last. I should be last. We were never meant to have the spotlight shine on us. When we focus on ourselves, these are often the times we get discouraged, down, and depressed. Life was never supposed to be about me. However, the cool part is when you put God first, others second, and yourself last, you experience a great sense of joy and fulfillment in life and it doesn’t put any pressure on you to be number one. You were never meant to occupy that position anyway. It is for God and God alone.

It’s not hard to figure out, but it’s often hard to live out. As we struggle with sin, we want to put ourselves first. We want the notice, the recognition, the attention, etc. Thankfully, God knows what we really need and if we are saved, the Holy Spirit works in us and helps us to conquer this pride and sin. However, I want to caution you. I’m sure you’ve seen, and I’ve seen in my own life, it’s so easy to forget these things and go through life living for ourselves. Don’t let this happen! Pray about these matters often. Maybe a good thing to do would even be to write down the acronym – JOY somewhere where you will see it often as a reminder to live life with God being first and at the centre, others second, and then yourself last. When you put Jesus first, others second, and yourself last, the result truly is JOY!

Bible Verse:

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” – Luke 10:27

It’s right in the Bible. The greatest commandment. Love God and love your neighbour. It doesn’t make it complicated. By God’s grace and strength, may we live this commandment out in our lives not as a burden, but as a privilege and joyful opportunity to bring glory to God!

( J – Jesus   O – Others   Y – Yourself )