Page 146 - First Steps 2023

• One source is circumstantial
It’s just natural: When things go your way, it prompts joy. A promotion
comes through, someone you love loves you back—that’s when life feels
worth living. This kind of joy depends on what others do, and how events
do or don’t favor you.

• The other source is God
When you have a friendship with God, when you understand who you
are in and to him, that relationship fuels joy—a joy that doesn’t depend on
circumstances.
Instead, there’s a deep-seated satisfaction that’s all but unshakable.
Why? Because of what—and who—you know.
As a Jesus-follower, when you’ve been around Jesus awhile, you tend
to discover three important truths…

• You’re known and loved
God’s love isn’t a blanket policy, a “Well, I made them all so I might
as well keep them all” sort of thing. You’re not invited into the Kingdom

only because you happened to be standing next to people God really
wanted to invite to the party.
No, God wants you. Loves you. Knows you. Thinks about you.
Consider these passages…

“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I
sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern
my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You
hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such
knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain” (Psalm
139:1-6).

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should
be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

Being known and loved—that’s a source of joy.

145