Mature joy
Yes, God will start enjoying you again, making things go well for you just as he enjoyed doing it for your ancestors. ~ Deuteronomy 30:9b (MSG)
Jesus said: If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.
“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. ~ John 15:10-11 (MSG)
SUMMARY SENTENCE:
God wants us to grow into his joy.
PRAYER:
Loving God, thank you for taking delight in us -- for sharing your joy with us. I confess that I am too easily satisfied with immature forms of joy that are rooted in success, fantasy, and acquisition. Help me to discover mature joy -- the developed joy that you are nurturing in me through Christ. I am going to follow your instructions to see where that leads. Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
