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Losing the Joy of Salvation
Losing the Joy of Salvation
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit (Psalms 51:12)
The 51st Psalms was written by David after he had sinned with Bathsheba and later was responsible for the death of her husband. Even though he was a man after God’s heart, David, through a lust of the eyes was enticed by his own evil desire giving birth to some terrible sins. When he was confronted by Nathan for what he had done, David was overwhelmed with remorse. He prays this beautiful prayer asking for forgiveness and cries out for the joy of salvation to be restored to him.
This event in the life of David should serve as a reminder to us that we too can say, do or think those things that will cause us to lose the joy of our salvation. There are few, if any, days that pass by in which we are not enticed in some way to walk that broad, wide way that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). Make no mistake, the devil is working endlessly, night and day, to entice us through the lust of the flesh lust of the eye and the pride of life to give birth to sins that will cause us to lose the joy or our salvation (1 Peter 5:8-9, 1 John 2:15-17, James 4:4).
The pursuit of material things will and has caused the loss of the joy of salvation for many people (Luke 12:15; Matthew 6:19-21). Entertainments, recreational activities abound that can wreak havoc on our eternal soul. Now, there is nothing wrong with enjoying wholesome entertainment and recreational activities but we must be sober minded and not let them cause us to abandon the spiritual blessings that bring to us the joy of salvation (Colossians 1:12-14, Galatians 5:22-25, Ephesians 1:3-12). We are people being influenced and our faith tested so much by books, magazines, movies and television that glorify and immortalize all manner of wickedness immorality. Do not be mistaken, we cannot counteract in one hour on Sunday morning what the world attempts to do to us all week long. We must dedicate our life to God with a deep abiding commitment that runs strong every day of the week.
There is some really good advice in the children’s song that says, “Little eyes be careful what you see, little ears be careful what you hear, little tongue be careful what you say, little hands be careful what you do, little feet be careful where you go.” Our eyes and our ears are the two gates to our heart. We must diligently guard those two gates because what we allow through them will determine what our tongue says, determine what our hands do and where our feet take us (Proverbs 4:23-27, Luke 6:45).
We must guard against losing the joy of salvation by filling our heart with good things (Philippians 4:8), by feeding on God’s word and letting it dwell richly in us (1 Peter 2:2, 2 Timothy 2:15, James 1:21, Psalms 119:9-16). In our effort to never lose the joy of our salvation, I pray that we will diligently strive to add to our faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love (2 Peter 5-11) and by so doing grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ thus sealing the joy of our salvation until the day we die.
Charles Hicks, Gallatin Tennessee
