— Deuteronomy 30:19 (AMPC)
I’m going to start with a question that may seem tough to ask at the beginning of a study, but I believe it goes to the core of how you are living your life: Are you living your life with quantity in mind or with quality in mind?
No matter who you are, whether you are a CEO of a business or a committed stay-at-home mom, we all have the same amount of time available to us—the quantity is the very same. 24-hours a day, 7-days a week, 365-days a year. So why do some appear to enjoy it more? Over my life, I’ve come to realize that it’s all about making the choice to enjoy it, the “choosing life” as Deuteronomy says. And that life is choosing to walk in the life and promises Christ died to give us.
As believers, you and I have available to us the quality of that life through Christ. His life is not filled with fear, stress, worry, anxiety or depression. God is not impatient, and He is in no hurry. He takes time to enjoy His creation, the words of His hands. And because Christ lives inside of us, we have access to approach life in the same way.
However, does that sound like your life today? Do you find yourself rushing through the quantity of your life while sacrificing the quality of it? We must all come to the place where we make the decision to not only enjoy our work and accomplishments, but also enjoy the road in getting there.
Final Thoughts and Action Items
We will never enjoy life unless we make a quality decision to do so. Satan is an expert at stealing, and our joy is one of his favorite targets. Nehemiah 8:10 tell us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. In John 10:10 we are told that “the thief” comes to kill, steal and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have and enjoy life.
Satan is the thief, and one of the things he seeks to steal is our joy. If he can steal our joy from us, we will be weak, and when we are weak, the enemy takes advantage of us. Weak believers are no threat to him and his works of destruction.
To live as God intends for us to live, the first thing we must do is truly believe that it is God’s will for us to experience continual joy. That doesn’t mean we’ll never face opposition or hardship, but instead, that we will face it with Christ on our side and ultimately, be able to rely on his joy as our strength to go through it. But again, we must make the decision enter and rely upon that joy.
Action Items
What decisions are you making today? Are you making those decisions with quality in mind or quantity?
Are you actively relying on the joy of the Lord to be your strength? Or are you trying to do it in your own strength?
Decide to rest in God’s joy. Make the decision today to look for quality over quantity, knowing that when you rely on Christ, you’ll accomplish everything you need to and in God’s timing.
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