Joy and Freedom Go Hand-In-Hand

I have recently been very out of sync with my blog writing. I have been busy, and I have been distracted by several things. I apologize.

I am going through a rather difficult season in my my life. I am not at liberty to say any more about it, but suffice it to say, it’s been rough. I have had conversations with God about it to the point He’s quite possibly ready to grab me up by the nape of my neck and shake me good. Not really, but I would shake myself if I could. I just tried that and it didn’t really work. I won’t be doing that again…now my neck hurts and my eye is twitching…

Jesus ensured the shame of the cross. Why? Hebrews 12 tell us it was “for the joy that was set before him.” There was no joy in the cross itself. The cross was something that had to be endured so He could move past that and get into the joyful redemption of mankind. He came to die so we could live. What becomes our joy became His sorrow. Heaven was mournful that day, but on the third day, Joy burst forth like the sun, never to set again. I am humbled by that, and so grateful that God has given me His life. Freely we have received, now it’s time for us to freely give.

I am feeling a little rambling today, but it is 4:30 in the morning, after all. I am too tired to sleep, but apparently not too tired to write this. My point today is simply this: We all lead busy lives. We run to and fro and get out of kilter often, simply because we’ve human and we’re prone to go our own way. We get shaken by life. We get battered and bruised. We get tired. But we endure, just as Jesus endured the shame of the cross. And eventually we find our way back to Joy. Because part of maintaining joy is knowing truth. And in that knowledge of truth is freedom. We may not like the truth sometimes, but we definitely like the freedom that comes with it. We may not like the truth that we’re…oh say, selfish. But we do like the fact that we can make a course correction and improve our lives. We may not like the truth that someone has been unfaithful to us, but we like the fact that deception was exposed for what it is. We may not like the truth that our bank account is dry, but we do like the fact that we can start from zero and build on that. There is freedom in truth, no matter how painful or how difficult. Because that first taste of freedom is the first step into a lifetime of joy.

May your joy be full today and may you walk in the blessed truth of Gods Word!