Have you
had your Joy Juice today? There will be
times in our lives when we feel “joyless”…but let’s remember, God remains
faithful!
Today,
let’s take a look into the life of Christian writer and leader, Francis
Schaeffer. He tells of a time in his
life when he was a joyless Christian….even while teaching others about the joy
of the Lord! He admits that one of the hardest times in his Christian walk was
when he recognized the “disproportion in himself between the large amount of
Bible data he knew & claimed to believe and the lack of genuine spiritual
joy in his life. “
Schaeffer had
to do some deep soul searching…which included much prayer and honest
transparency. He was broken and poured
out his heart before God, asking for renewal and wisdom.
In his own words:
" I searched through what the Bible said concerning reality as a
Christian. Gradually, I saw that the problem was that with all the teaching I
had received after I was a Christian, I had heard little about what the Bible
says about the meaning of the finished work of Christ for our present lives."Gradually the sun came out and the song came. ...and although I had written no poetry for many years, in that time of joy and song I found poetry beginning to flow again—poetry of certainty, an affirmation of life, thanksgiving, and praise. Admittedly, as poetry it is very poor, but it expressed a song in my heart which was wonderful to me." (from True Spirituality, p. 196 in the complete works of francis schaeffer, vol. 3 © 1982 Crossway Books, Wheaton, Illinois).
True joy comes from moment-by-moment, step by
step living out the “finished work of Christ” in our present lives.
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