2023-07-14
John 10:10 CEV
Your lungs need oxygen to thrive, your body needs food to thrive, and your soul needs joy to thrive. How can you tell when someone is joy-deprived? By how they look and what they say.
One Bible teacher says: “When I began to understand John 10:10… I realized the enemy had deceived me into thinking that enjoying things was not important… I had come to believe – falsely, of course – that if I was having fun, something was wrong… I must not be working hard enough! I never saw my father enjoy life and it seemed to aggravate him when others did, so I just grew up thinking something must be wrong with it. I can remember being told to be quiet when I laughed out loud… The seventeenth-century… [writer] Madame Guyon said that the highest call for every child of God is to enjoy God. I remember what a heavy load lifted off of me the first time I read that… I was working so hard trying to please God that the thought of simply enjoying Him had not occurred to me at all. I had never heard of such a thing!… I had been a committed church member for over twenty years before I learned that God wanted me to enjoy Him and the life He had given me.”
Can you relate? If so, it’s time to make some changes in your life. Take a break without feeling guilty; you will be much more productive when you’re rested and refreshed. Recreation is not “unspiritual”; it’s essential to staying in balance. We live in a driven, stressed-out society, but you can change; you can be joyful if you choose to.
Soul food: Jer 51-52; Matt 26:14-25; Ps 118:1-9; Prov 15:27-30
2023-07-13
2 Timoteus 4:16 NLV
Wat is die regte manier om eensaamheid te hanteer?
1) Leer om alleen te wees sonder om eensaam te voel. Jesus het dikwels die skare agtergelaat om tyd alleen saam met sy Vader in gebed te bestee. Hoekom? Omdat Hy geweet het dat afsondering noodsaaklik vir geestelike groei is. Na daardie tye van afsondering was Hy verryk en beter toegerus om die uitdagings van die lewe te hanteer. Die Bybel sê: ‘[Jakob] het alleen agtergebly. Dáár kom hy ‘n man teë wat tot dagbreek met hom worstel’ (Genesis 32:24 NLV). Hy het as ‘n man met ‘n nuwe naam, ‘n nuwe aard, ‘n nuwe manier van stap en ‘n nuwe toekoms uit daardie tyd wat hy alleen met God bestee het, gestap. Wanneer mense besef dat jy jou gunsteling ete, fliek of ander aktiwiteit alleen kan geniet, word hulle deur jou krag, onafhanklikheid en selfvertroue aangetrek.
2) Verwerp die idee dat jy nie sonder ‘n sekere persoon kan leef nie. God is die enigste persoon wat jy moet hê en Hy het beloof om altyd by jou te wees (sien Hebreërs 13:5). Ons verval dikwels in depressie na die dood van ‘n geliefde, omdat ons nie ‘n lewe buite die verhouding ontwikkel het nie. Dis egter nooit te laat om te begin nie. God sal jou daarmee help. Paulus het geskryf: ‘Toe ek die eerste keer voor die regter gebring is, was daar niemand by my nie. Almal het my verlaat. Ek hoop nie dit sal teen hulle tel nie! Maar die Here het my bygestaan en my krag gegee om die Goeie Nuus in al sy volheid te verkondig sodat al die heidene dit kan hoor…’ (2 Timoteus 4:16-17 NLV). God sal jou help om oor jou verlies te rou en dan aan te beweeg vir dit wat Hy volgende vir jou in gedagte het.
Sielskos: Jer 49-50; Matt 26:1-13; Ps 109:16-31; Spr 15:23-26
2 Timothy 4:16 NLT
What’s the proper way to deal with loneliness?
(1) Learn to be alone without feeling lonely. Jesus often left the crowd to be alone with His Father in prayer. Why? Because He knew that solitude is essential to spiritual growth. And He came back from those times personally enriched and better equipped to deal with the challenges of life. The Bible says, “Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day” (Genesis 32:24 NKJV). Out of that time alone with God came a man with a new name, a new nature, a new walk, and a new future. Plus, when people realize that you can enjoy your favourite dish or movie or other activity alone, they are attracted by your strength, independence, and confidence.
(2) Reject the idea that you cannot live without a certain person in your life. God is the only person you must have, and He has promised to always stay with you (See Hebrews 13:5). Many times, we fall into depression after the death of a loved one because we haven’t cultivated an outside life. But it’s never too late to get started. And God will help you. Paul wrote: “The first time I was brought before the judge, no one came with me. Everyone abandoned me. May it not be counted against them. But the Lord stood with me and gave me strength so that I might preach the Good News in its entirety for all the Gentiles to hear” (2 Timothy 4:16-17 NLT). God will help you to grieve your loss, leave your loss, and go on to what He has for you next.
Soul food: Jer 49-50; Matt 26:1-13; Ps 109:16-31; Prov 15:23-26
2023-07-12
Psalm 102:7 NKJV
Wolfgang Dircks, a divorced, disabled loner, was found deceased in his apartment in Bonn, Germany, in December 1998 – five years after he died. He was forty-three and died watching television. Neighbours didn’t notice his absence. His landlord came by after the bank account from which his rent was paid dried up. A TV schedule was still sitting on the lap of Dircks’s skeleton and was open to the page of December 5, 1993 – the apparent date of his death. The television had long since stopped in the on position, but the lights on his 1993 Christmas tree were still glowing.
When God created us, He said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him” (Genesis 2:18 NKJV). You were created to be in relationship. You don’t have to accept loneliness as your destiny.
Instead: (1) Find a need and meet it. Often loneliness is not the absence of people, but purpose. Show a true interest in the difficulties of others. Resist making your own issues and worries the aim of every conversation. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4 NIV).
(2) Be generous to others with your time, talents, and treasure. Not everyone will accept what you offer, but someone will. Pray for guidance and keep reaching out. God says, “To me, you are very dear, and I love you…” (Isaiah 43:4 CEV).
Soul food: Jer 45-48; Matt 25:31-46; Ps 109:1-15; Prov 15:22
Psalm 102:8 NLV
Wolfgang Dircks, ‘n geskeide, gestremde alleenloper, is in Desember 1998 – vyf jaar nadat hy dood is – in sy woonstel in Bonn, Duitsland, gevind. Hy was drie-en-veertig jaar oud en het gesterf terwyl hy televisie gekyk het. Sy bure het niks agtergekom nie. Die woonstel se eienaar het hom kom opsoek nadat die bankrekening waaruit sy huur betaal is, opgedroog het. ‘n TV-skedule het steeds op die skoot van Dircks se geraamte gelê en was oop op die bladsy van 5 Desember 1993 – die oënskynlike datum van sy dood. Die televisie het lankal die gees gegee, maar die liggies op sy Kersboom van 1993 het steeds gebrand.
Toe God ons geskep het, het Hy gesê: ‘…Dis nie goed dat die mens alleen is nie. Ek sal vir hom ‘n metgesel maak, sy gelyke wat hom kan help’ (Genesis 2:18 NLV). Jy is geskep om verhoudings te hê. Jy hoef nie eensaamheid as jou lotsbestemming te aanvaar nie.
Doen eerder die volgende: 1) Identifiseer ‘n behoefte en voldoen daaraan. Dikwels is eensaamheid nie die afwesigheid van mense nie, maar van ‘n doel. Toon ‘n ware belangstelling in ander se probleme. Weerstaan die drang om jou eie probleme en bekommernisse die doel van elke gesprek te maak. ‘Moet niks uit selfsug doen of om daarmee te spog nie. Wees eerder nederig deur van medegelowiges meer te dink as van jouself. Julle moenie net elkeen na sy eie belange omsien nie, maar ook na mekaar se belange’ (Filippense 2:3-4 NVL).
2) Wees vrygewig met jou tyd, talente en skatte. Nie almal sal dit wat jy bied aanvaar nie, maar iemand sal. Bid vir leiding en hou aan om uit te reik. God sê: ‘…Jy is so dierbaar vir My. Jy is belangrik vir My. Ek is baie lief vir jou’ (Jesaja 43:4 DB).
Sielskos: Jer 45-48; Matt 25:31-46; Ps 109:1-15; Spr 15:22
