1 Timothy 4:12
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.
Set an example. Not for the unbelieving world but for the believers.
While we will experience mountaintops and valleys on our journey in this world, and some of the valleys may seem longer than the mountaintops, we will learn tat joy isn't determined by where we are in our circumstances but rather where we are in our faith in Him. We serve a God who moves mountains, calms the sea and has raised the dead. He, himself, conquer death. Shouldn't we be excited about this? Shouldn't this alone be reason for pure and uncontainable joy? But, yet, we seem to accept that even this joy will wane. We come to expect the new-found joy in new believers to decrease. We warn them against burn-out. We advise them to pace their selves. Instead of finding ourselves caught up in their energy, we too often sit pack telling ourselves that they, too, will become like us. That we've seen this before and soon they will settle down and join the rest of the ranks on the pews.
Soon they will mature.
Their goofy smiles will settle back to quick head nods. Their wild and abandoned embraces will return to a hand-shake. Their attendance will decrease from every time the doors are open to normal attendance. Their constant chatter about Christ will finally return to sports, news and weather...and we can stop feeling uncomfortable around them because they remind us of once the uncontainable joy that we felt ourselves.
Some how, some where within our own walks, we begin to look upon earthly things to satisfy our souls. We look toward relationships, progress and material wealth. We strive for peace, love and the calming of our spirit within...we search for normal. And when we come up empty-handed, we become disheartened and disillusioned. We let ourselves be convinced that God is far way, that He doesn't care and we feel our excitement falter. The people within the church who doted on us as they were sharing the Truth no longer even have time to have coffee with us. Satan begins to weave the lies that no one cares now that they have added another mark to their membership and we watch as they start to court the new attendees.
And this is where we start to tread on water instead of standing firm...
We start to look upon the people that surround us to justify our faith. We start to rely on the relationships that God placed around us o encourage us in our journey towards faith instead of using them as the purpose in which they were intended. They were never intended to take the place of our quest for Our Father...and, yet, they do. We begin to loose our joy and excitement. Some of us will falter completely and will stop attending church and reading our Bibles all together. Others will stay, albeit disgruntled, but will stay. We will follow the examples of those before us, carry the hurt in our hearts and will find ourselves finding fault in the things that surround us whether it be the carpet, the music, the pastor. Our physical needs are not being met, and we believe the lie that once they are met then our lives will be good. A few will become what some might would call "radical". The joy never decreases, yet, seems to be replenished each day anew. Regardless of the circumstances that life seems to throw their way, they walk in the assured foundation that He is Lord and that is enough for them. Though, people may try to discourage them, believers even, may try to remind them of the realities of this world, they live for their place in eternity daily walking with Him.
For their faith is not dependent on anything of this world.
What example does our daily lives set for those that surround us? Do we walk with the joy of the Lord? It is ours....as believers, it is ours for the taking and, yet, too many times we let the world snatch from our hands or we willingly give it away. It is a choice how we decide to live, how we decide to face each and every day. Do we live as those who are forgiven? Do we live as those who serve the King? Do we live as a child of God should live? Our lives should be an example, not just to the world, but believers who have seemingly lost their joy. Through our daily walk, through our words, actions and relationships, the joy that God has given us should overflow into the lives of those around us.
It is okay to be happy. It is.
For the joy that we have, is a joy that has been given from the King.
Live worthy....always.
I struggled with this as a new believer...I did. Who was I to be in Christ? What was it supposed to look like? I saw three different kinds of believers it seemed....and then I would look at myself as a Christian woman and that took on a whole different look. It took awhile for me to understand that even among believers I would not find confirmation of my soul...that comes from Him and Him alone. I had to realize that I was created to serve Him and Him along and through that realization, I found who I was meant to be.
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