Maximizing Our Joy In God

Had this thought the other day:

True joy does not come from filling ourselves with what we think we want, but rather from God filling us with what he knows we need.

I find that I am happiest when I'm not looking out for #1. That is, I tend to be most fulfilled in life when I'm not focused on pleasing myself, but rather serving and giving to others. In essence, when I am not focused on bringing personal happiness to myself, I am free to experience the joy of blessing others.

God knows what will satisfy and fulfill us infinitely better than we could ever know ourselves. So, when we choose to live for him and according to his purposes for our lives, we find that we are the most fulfilled. That's why God says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." When God is the supreme delight and joy of our lives, we will live in such a way as to bring him maximum glory and praise through our lives.

It is as we live in this way that we are satisfied with him above all things. We find ourselves living for something far bigger than ourselves. We are free from obsessing about our own little world and how we can maximize our own pleasure.

We are free to give our lives to a cause that greater than any other in the universe: Making disciples of all nations and leading people into their own personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Only when Jesus becomes the supreme joy of our lives will leading people to him become our source of greatest joy. Until we love him more than anything, we will only focus on how to please ourselves. When we love him with all of our hearts, nothing will give us greater joy than glorifying him than giving our lives to his mission in the earth.

The pleasure we gain from glorifying God is infinitely greater than merely living to make much of our own personal ends. It is a terrible deception to think that ultimate joy comes from seeking to please ourselves.