It’s a formula that’ll help you think right and feel better—and it’s not complicated to solve.
John’s friend was a missionary to China who was working so hard in the foreign field that his health was failing. John decided to send his friend a letter and wrote about his recent study of John 15:
Abiding, not striving or struggling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for the present power. This is not new and yet ‘tis new to me. Christ literally all seems to me now the power, the only power for service; the only ground for unchanging joy.
As the letter’s recipient—missionary pioneer J. Hudson Taylor—read it, his own eyes were opened, and he responded to his friend: “As I read, I saw it all,” he revealed. “As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and the strain are gone. The last month has been perhaps the happiest of my life.”
Perspective to handle life’s most persistent and even bitter challenges comes from having an abiding—consistent, personal, and passionate—relationship with Jesus Christ. John 15:10-11 tells us that if we obey His directions found in Scripture, we will abide in His love and experience the fullness of His joy. What does perspective and joy produce?
- An ongoing sense of well-being.
- Less stress and, therefore, improved health.
- Increased confidence that your decisions will be correct and honor God.
- Greater knowledge of the Bible and its principles.
What are you facing today? Perhaps you’re striving, struggling, always pressing onward but never seeming to get ahead. At home, at work, or in ministry, you will experience relief and release as you spend time with Jesus in prayer and in His Word, and intentionally make time you spend with Him a daily and beloved habit in your life.
