Who Is On The Throne of Your JOY?

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“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22

Last week I took a “Narcissistic Personality Quiz.” http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/narcissistic.htm

The N.P.Q measures narcissistic mindsets and tendencies… in how one looks at authority, their own body, superiority, entitlement, manipulation, equality, self-sufficiency and vanity.

I did not score high enough to be a categorized as a narcissistic individual but I found the questions interesting and I remember when I had such “narcissistic tendencies” and once acted and thought upon them.

I then read 2013 article on new.discovery.com that reported that data has shown an increasing amount of Americans are becoming narcissists.     http://news.discovery.com/human/narcissism-epidemic-college-students.htm

This was not surprising considering how self-absorbed our society has become and in doing so has become a joyless society. 

We can point the finger at a lot of things… such as the baby boomers or our expectation and reliance on convenience.  But that's not it .... It's who's on the throne of our life.

What happens when life isn’t convenient? 
  

My youngest got a free ticket to a theme park as a reward so we went for the day and while we were patiently standing in line at the concession stand for a refill in our cup, a group of people walked up to the counter and demanded that they be served even though they could see everyone else was waiting in line.  And when the people at the concession stand wouldn’t serve them they got down right rude and disrespectful.  Where did they get that idea of entitlement over all those other people waiting in line?

Who was ruling on their throne? 

I guess you could say we saw a principle of God’s word come to life that day because the many who thought they would to be first ended up last and those considered last ended up the first.

Ever feel bad because you don’t get recognized for doing something?  Where does that come from? 

The N. P. Q is a simple man made test.  It does not adequately measure the accuracy of how God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart.  I may not be narcissistic in the world’s eyes but that doesn’t mean “I” or “me” doesn’t wants to crawl up on the throne and paint and color the circumstances of my day.   
  

We as Christians must remember we are children of our Heavenly Father.   God allows us to crawl up on the throne of our hearts to experience that we are not the source of our own joy.  Some learn this and some don't.   And He also allows us to sit on his lap to KNOW HE is the source of our JOY.  

Ever seen the LORD smile? When He smiles there is nothing like it and it fills you with so much goodness that there is no room for the negative symptoms you were experiencing. 
   

We must surrender the throne of our life to Him.  We also must be patient and wait upon the LORD and He will establish our hearts where they need to be set.  He is the good medicine for our heart.
 

“For he shall not often reflect on the days of his life; because God occupies him with the joy of his heart.” Ecc 5:20