By David ReayMonday 12 Aug 2013LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read John 10:7-10
7 Jesus explained it to them: “I tell you the truth,I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers. But the true sheep did not listen to them. 9 Yes,I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures. 10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. (NLT)
Each of us receives a quota of good and bad news. The good news of the operation being successful is followed by the bad news of the medical bills. The good news of the baby’s birth is followed by the bad news of sleepless nights. We learn to live with this: we celebrate the good news and pray for God’s strength to deal with the not-so-good news.
But it can be that joy of good news can be swamped by bad news. Just as we begin to gladly enthuse about something wonderful that has come our way,something not so wonderful crops up. It is as if a great dark cloud has blotted out the sun so we can no longer bask in it.
Jesus describes the evil one as a thief and robber. His task is to destroy. If he can’t destroy our eternal selves he will settle for the ‘consolation prize’ of robbing us of our joy. If he can’t stop good things happening,he will try extra hard to somehow overshadow them.
Some people can be joy killers. Those who throw cold water on our hopes and dreams. Those who believe every silver lining has a cloud. But we can rob ourselves of our joy too. We can let the evil one play havoc with us so we lose perspective and only see the darkness rather than the light.
Better to tell him to get lost. We certainly can’t avoid bad news but we can gladly immerse ourselves in whatever good news is going around. Don’t let Satan rain on our parade.
Blessings
David Reay