When I look at my youngest daughter’s face, I deeply desire that she would live a life that brings great glory to God. With much effort, I try to protect her, teach her, and create good moments that will stay in her memory as joyful ones. But we don’t have to travel far to find those moments—because every minute with her feels like an unprecedented adventure.
I admire her ability to feel joy and fullness without worrying about what comes next. When I watch her, I know she will face hard things and navigate suffering, yet that truth doesn’t diminish the beauty of being present in happy moments. My desire is to teach her that gratitude and the ability to enjoy beauty are acts of worship toward the Giver of all good things. I pray that she can fully enjoy God’s blessings without falling under the dark shadow of worry and anxiety that hides in the heart.
It’s often easier to understand God’s truth when applying it to someone else. But if I apply this to my own life, I realize how often I sabotage my own joy and sense of fulfillment with worries and doubts.
Have you ever felt a voice whispering that the good you have today is too good to last?
These thoughts have the power to derail your focus on the good by making you anticipate the bad. Living with the mindset of not getting too attached—to avoid future disappointment—is a form of self-protection. We often believe it’s our responsibility to guard ourselves from pain at all costs, thinking that if we don’t get too attached to something or someone, their absence will hurt less. Yet this attempt to shield ourselves from pain and disappointment ends up building a wall around our hearts.
The answer isn’t to stop feeling—but to feel with a focus on the One who is Sovereign. As followers of Christ, we must grow in contentment that transcends our circumstances. As Paul says in Philippians 4:12, the ability to live in both abundance and need with contentment comes from the strength of Christ in us.
This contentment doesn’t come by numbing our hearts, but by keeping our greatest source of joy flowing—the endless well of Jesus Christ. His life, death, resurrection, intercession, and future reign fill us with hope, peace, and joy that outshine the hardest realities of this life. Through this lens, we can embrace joyful moments as gifts from the same hands that gave us the Gospel.
“If we believe that maturity means not reacting emotionally to situations, we’ve misunderstood spiritual growth.”
We sometimes think that not crying or lamenting during tragedy shows spiritual stability. But Jesus didn’t live that way. True spiritual maturity isn’t an emotionless life—it’s the ability to process both joy and pain through the truth of the Gospel. When someone tries to shield their emotions from pain, they also numb their capacity for joy. It sounds logical to avoid pain by shutting off emotion—but human logic isn’t a reliable guide for living.
When Jesus surrendered Himself to the ultimate expression of pain and suffering, it wasn’t logical. Yet His eyes were fixed on the Father—a love that didn’t erase the hardship but transformed His pain into greater blessing.
If you live believing that you can’t enjoy God’s good gifts because they are temporary, you need to learn contentment and gratitude. This isn’t emotional armor—it’s a disciplined response that lifts our gaze to the Father of lights even when darkness presses in. Contentment and gratitude free us to rejoice honestly and wholeheartedly. Gratitude, practiced daily, anchors us in the reality that Christ has already won—and we can embrace His blessings with open hearts.
We must grow in our capacity to feel joy because the Gospel we profess really is good news. When I see how my daughter delights in the simplest, everyday things, I ask God to give us the same ability—to live a thankful life through the joy found in every blessing He gives.