30 Days of Daily Grace

Day 17 Pain To Joy

Read

Psalm 51:12
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Reflect

Christianity is not always spring and summer, where flowers bloom and the sun shines just right. At times, it will be cold, and storms will destroy your comfort. Pain will just be there, ready to embrace you with sadness and sorrow, and for some reason, you allow it to, you had to.

You see, sometimes we handle pain by taking comfort from what we have. When other things are lost, when some people leave, we tend to comfort ourselves with what's left, thinking at least we still have them.

In reality, in just a second, it really takes joy away that you've once had from your work, studies, luxuries, health, and even relationships. Even when you comfort yourself of what's left in you, the joy isn't the same any more. Because those things can fade, too, and when they fade, there's nothing to protect the tiny bits leftover of joy anymore.

And maybe that's what pain is for. You have to process it, let yourself go through it, but not alone. It's there to help you notice that you are taking joy from the tiny little fleeting things of this world. It's there to help you recognize the need of a lasting joy from an infinite, unlimited Being.

To help you see that you should delight more on the Giver rather than the toys He gives. To reboot your mind and make you realize again where pure joy really comes from.

It's not easy to let go of dependence from the things in this world, it might be another pain that will add to your pile. But it's the pain to cap that long pile off. That pain of letting go will result to the joy you've been craving to have. Let the pain brought by choosing to die daily in your old nature, become the reason that you come closer to the joy of living in Christ in your new nature.

Those fleeting things "were never to possess [your] heart" because "the true good is in another world and [your] only real treasure is Christ." (C. S. Lewis). Instead of letting pain destroy, let it build your joy.

Let God sustain you with an obedient spirit to turn away from worldly delight and let Him restore the joy of your salvation which only comes from Christ—your real treasure.

Respond

Pray over your heart to let go of the things that you've been depending your joy from apart from Christ.

Declare Christ as the source of your true joy.

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I hope you learned something in our Day 17.
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God bless. ♡