The Joy of the Lord

“The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

Billy Graham, the evangelist, told of a time the Bee Gees were at the top, their Saturday Night Fever album was a record breaker and sold 15 million copies, and they won a Grammy for Album of the Year. Barry Gibb should have been on top of the world but he said he "felt inside like warmed over death." He was miserable. He had lots of money, several expensive cars, crazy fans, a handsome movie star face and a falsetto voice people wanted to hear. Fame, Popularity, Good Looks, in capitals, what more could one ask for? 

A lot of us think that if we only could have more money, if only we could have a prettier nose, if only we had more friends....

But if we had all the wealth of the whole world, all the beauty, all the fame, all the power, but we do not have anything to feed our soul, what happens? Matthew 16:26 says, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" 

There are "idols" all around us. Anything we make more important than God is an idol. 

It can be our children, our job, a longed for boyfriend who doesn't want to get married, 

a relationship we are fighting to keep at all costs, the latest iPhone we are saving for, whatever!

Only one thing is important- 

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." Matthew 6:33

Truly, the joy of the Lord, joy in the Lord, is our strength.