I like this translation. It’s not exactly what the original text meant, but it has more meaning for me personally. Love rejoices when truth wins. When Good beats Evil. When Love beats Fear. When we take steps in our lives to choose God over the world, I believe we should rejoice. Even heaven rejoices when people come to know Him. We don’t make time to stop and rejoice in the good God is doing every day, but we definitely take time to complain about all the things that are Not Good. When I find myself completely miserably, sometimes when I think about all the reasons I have to NOT be miserable, it only makes me more miserable that I’m not already happy. (UGH what a vicious cycle). I definitely allow Evil to win in my life so often that I have an extremely difficult time letting Truth Win. I don’t even know how to do it.
I actually realized recently that perhaps I wasn’t happy because I didn’t know how to be. I’ve trained myself so much to be miserable that now when I want to be happy, I don’t even know how to be. I focus on the negative all the time. It’s called pessimism, but I prefer “realism”. I like being a “realist” but I am also tired of only seeing the bad in everything. Suddenly “realism” has become “depressionism” because I’ve trained my eye to see all the bad stuff so that I am now blind to the good stuff.
If I really loved, I would have a joy beyond my circumstances. I would have a joy that would not be affected by workload, stress, or even vacation. It would be something beyond that. Something that sees the truth and the good in everything. Something that rejoices with truth, because it sees truth winning all around. We hear about all the bad stuff, but we don’t really care about the good stuff. You want to know why The News is full of bad news? Because nobody wants to hear about the good stuff. If we wanted to, they’d sell it to us, trust me! But we don’t want to hear the good stuff. That’s boring. Tell me what someone did wrong, tell me a bad thing that happened, tell me what I should be afraid of, this is news! We don’t seem to be wired to want to hear the good stuff, we don’t seem to care When Truth Wins.
I think we need a complete overhaul in our hearts in order to really Rejoice with Truth.
Pessimism has its benefits, but its cons come anytime it keeps me from living in love. If I can’t rejoice with some truth in my life on a daily basis, than I’m really just delighting in evil. I have to take the time to stop and see where Truth is winning in my life, and Rejoice in it.
Walking in love one week at a time.
8/30/14
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If 15 Weeks to LOVE is going to make a difference, we have to do this together. Post your comments, your struggles, your victories, your funny stories, so we can share together in this journey. It's not an easy one, but moving forward as a team will help us endure to the end; and press forward for the greater goal. So please tell me what you think, and how you're doing.
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Hey J thanks for this incite. This is so true and examining myself I fall into this way too much. To take the time to stop and see where truth is winning in my life can only lead me to rejoice. You are right it's all Him and I am grateful. I think I'll put a reminder on my phone.LOL. Keep this up, it's a good challenge to us. Love,MomT
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