11 Dec 7 Passages + 7 quotes = 1 Path to Greater Joy
Psalm 90:14 says, “Satisfy me in the morning with your lovingkindness that I may sing for joy and be glad all my days.”
Passages like this often seem as though they were written for super-saints. Singing for joy and being glad are not natural for many Christians. We are typically significantly influenced by our daily circumstances, more inclined to crab with frustration and be grumpy all our days.
However, if we work this passage backward, we can see that to “sing for joy and be glad all our days,” we must be “satisfied with God’s lovingkindness.” So our joy is not rooted in our circumstances, but in the lovingkindness of God.
Cultivating satisfaction with God’s lovingkindness is the key to “singing for joy and being glad.”
So, below are seven demonstrations of God’s lovingkindness, followed by seven Scripture passages and seven quotes that reinforce the passage. We can increase our joy by increasing our knowledge and appreciation for God’s lovingkindness. And because, if something is important we must repeat it until it changes us, I suggest you read this each day for at least 30 days.
It won’t work like magic… Christian growth isn’t based on magic, but on mental renewal… but it is part of an overall strategy to “not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2).
- God loves us.
Scripture: See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. 1 John 3:1
Quote: “If we doubt that God loves us, it is only because we have a trivial definition of love. We were made not primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the divine love may rest well pleased.” C. S. Lewis
2. Our sins are forgiven.
Scripture: As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12
Quote:To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. C. S. Lewis
3. We are born again, spiritually.
Scripture: You have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable. 1 Peter 1:23
Quote: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – whether they stand at the heights of political power or the depths of prison confinement. I have been in both spots. And no matter where a person is, God will meet him or her there with an invitation to forgiveness and new life. Chuck Colson
4. We will live forever in heaven.
Scripture: If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also. John 14:3
Quote: Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind. C. S. Lewis
5. We are actors in the divine purposes on earth, with the “dignity of causality.”
Scripture: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
Quote:“God,” said Pascal, “instituted prayer in order to lend to His creatures the dignity of causality.” But not only prayer; whenever we act at all He lends us that dignity. It is not really stranger, nor less strange, that my prayers should affect the course of events than that my other actions should do so.
For He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do, slowly and blunderingly, what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye. This is how (no light matter) God makes something—indeed, makes gods—out of nothing. C.S. Lewis
6. We receive disproportionate eternal reward for things suffered in this life.
Scripture: For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18
Quote: On the day of the Lord – the day that God makes everything right, the day that everything sad becomes untrue – on that day the same thing will happen to your own hurts and sadness. You will find that the worst things that ever happened to you will in the end only enhance your eternal delight. On that day, all of it will be turned inside out and you will know joy beyond the walls of the world. The joy of your glory will be that much greater for every scar you bear. Timothy Keller
7. We will share in God’s glory.
Scripture: For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:17
Quote: It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. C. S. Lewis
Conclusion
Don’t underestimate the power of repetition! Remember last week’s blog post. Repetition is the key to mental renewal. If something is important, it must be repeated until it changes us. So, if you (like me) could benefit from a greater grasp of God’s lovingkindness, take the challenge to read this post each day for at least 30 days. That’s what I’m going to do. In today’s chaotic, media-dominated culture, it takes concentrated effort to renew our minds so the Lord can transform our lives. This is just one small way we can work on it.
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