Our joy in Christ, our strength.

Church,

Other than God’s, we have zero control of ourselves over what happens to us. We only have options on how to react. Yet, we’ve been mostly pre-programmed to react a certain way by culture altogether not realizing that we are free to react however we see best fit rather than how others expect us to react. We live in a society where some can and are pulling others into certain fights because of the color of their skin. Giving attention to whatever the system is other than the purpose of simply raising awareness so that we better understand the why’s and how’s is actually a free promotion of the system itself. A fire can be dead and extinguished and people could still be talking about it simply because the media promotes it week after week. Like the sea, life on this earth is not always free of storms and sharks. Giving our attention mostly to the storms and sharks will likely rob us of our joy of the journey. Whatever the circumstance happens to be, the best way to react is, of course, by grace.

Christ once referred to the devil as “the enemy”. He never said to go and fight the devil. He referred to him for our purpose of awareness. If there was any battle to fight and win, He did so himself by what he did on the cross giving the devil zero leverage to accuse us before God by fully forgiving us of any wrong doings. The devil, though he has zero leverage against us, he wants us to believe that he does so that we remain living in fear and shame for our wrongs. The truth sets us free, not our activism at fighting whatever the system may be. Best of all, the system is unplugged by Christ, and yet we’re being told to fear it. I am reminded of Paul’s saying to the believers at Corinth, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them” (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Every challenge is an opportunity to learn something new. We cannot grow in understanding without suffering anything. To suffer is the same as to experience. Had we not gone through the set of sufferings we’ve been, we would have never matured. Always, God works out everything to our benefit, regardless whether we judge it good or evil.

Our strength against evil is the very freedom we have in Christ to do as we believe is good for ourselves and others rather than as pressured by the opinions of others.

Our Joy in Christ is our freedom to do as we believe is good for ourselves and others. Not anxiety. But our joy in Christ.

Rejoice.