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Your Delight Fills Me with Joy
My wife is an artist, and she has immersed herself in her art for the past several months. I think it’s terrific. I have enjoyed tagging along with her in different indoor and outdoor venues. I’ve often wanted to try my hand at it and dabbled a bit, but my artistic talent seemed only slightly better than my singing.
I finally decided to try it again, being satisfied just in the doing. And it gives me joy. What really is fantastic is the joy my wife has in this experience. My sharing this part of her life is delighting her. She can instruct, advise, and suggest things to help me. Seeing her joy, her delight, in turn, gives me joy. It makes me want to try to be better.
Isn’t it also this way with the Lord? We give him joy when we try to follow his statutes. It gives him delight. As it doesn’t really matter to my wife if I progress beyond stick figures, isn’t it also the same with the Lord as we try to be obedient? As sure as I will never be considered an acclaimed artist, I will also never be totally obedient in all circumstances. And that is not the point. The point is that I am in the game. I am trying. Jesus is teaching.
Just as my wife has given me tools to improve my drawing, God has given us tools to be better Christians (his church, the Bible, the Holy Spirit). He is joyful when I am trying, and knowing that gives me joy in response.
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