You Won’t Have to Sneak if You’re Living in Joy
I snuck up on him, holding my camera as steady as I could.
He sat, not blinking once.
I knew there was a certain closeness he would tolerate. Just didn’t know how close. Wasn’t like he was going to hold up a paw when I was too close. He wouldn’t whisper, “Close enough, Bud.”
No, if I was going to get the shot I wanted, I was going to have to either stop when I thought I was as close as he would allow, or risk him scampering away.
You Won’t Have to Sneak if You’re Living in Joy. #hope #joy #writingcommunity Share on XDo you ever play this game with sin? You know, walking right up to a line you think you can get close to but not cross? Maybe you’re watching a movie that you feel in your gut, you shouldn’t be watching. The show uses words or scenes that make you feel uncomfortable.
But you think, I’ll be okay. I’m sure the rest of the movie won’t be this way. More than likely, the rest of the movie is that way. How far do you go before you stop the movie and move onto something else? Do you inch just a little further? You may find that if you make it through the movie or show, the next movie or show doesn’t bother you quite as much. That’s a road you don’t want to go down.
Playing that game doesn’t feel good. It actually feels pretty rotten.
I have a small television in front of my treadmill at home. Given that I’m a writer, I use the treadmill quite a bit. On good days I get up from my writing every hour and knock out a brisk ten-minute walk or jog on it. The treadmill is boring, so I usually have a movie queued up on the TV. Netflix and Amazon Prime provide most of the content. I’ve watched many partial episodes before realizing my spirit wasn’t experiencing joy.
I may tell myself the remainder of the content is good.Doesn’t matter. My spirit knows what pleases God and I’m simply rationalizing things to please my body when I make that argument. It’s uncomfortable.
God tells us we should experience joy in life. If my actions do not bring joy, I’m probably doing the wrong things.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” (Galatians 5:22-23, NASB)
Look for those things that bring real joy and you won’t have to sneak up on life!
Today’s feature photo comes from a “photo-a-day” challenge I pursued several years ago. The photo inspires the topic. For me, the posts challenge my creativity, writing discipline, and dependence on God for His message. My prayer is that you find hope in God’s Word, and that you’ll share your hope with others.
Hey Tim – this is an awesome example, and one I definitely relate too – can’t tell you how many times I have tried to sneak up on an animal, full knowing that there was gong to be a point in which it would become too close, and squander the opportunity to enjoy the wildlife as they high-tailed it out of there! As an analogy, however, man are you spot-on! To borrow from your example, can’t tell you how many times Terri and I have began watching a show or series, and after the first five or ten minutes of content KNOW that it was NOT something we were going to pollute our hearts and minds with (in fact, this very thing just happened the past weekend). Taking Jesus’ warning to be aware of religious leaders who marginalize unrighteousness (Mt. 16:6), Paul admonishes us to be aware of how even the littlest amount of sin in our lives can pollute our entire witness (1Co. 5:6; Ga. 5:9). We are ALL subject to being influenced by the things we allow to impress on our heart and mind – the GOD honoring thing is to do is to assess their value to our witness for GOD, and choose that which brings maximum glory to Him. Good post my Brother, keep up the good work!
Thank you for your comment Guy. I appreciate hearing others go through the same thing. Your two Scriptural references are perfect for reminding us about the danger of “just this once” or “it’s only a little bit”. Thanks so much!