Outlook Determines Outcome!

The Joy-Stealers

The thieves that rob you of your joy!

#1 Circumstances

Most of us must confess that when things are "going our way" we feel a lot happier and we are much easier to live with. But have you ever stopped to consider how few of the circumstances of life are really under our control? We have no control over the weather or over the traffic on the expressway or over the things other people say and do. The person whose happiness depends on ideal circumstances is going to be miserable much of the time! The poet Byron wrote, "Men are the sport of circumstances."

#2 People

All of us have lost our joy because of people: what they are, what they say, and what they do. (And no doubt we ourselves have contributed to making somebody else unhappy. It works both ways.) But we have to live and work with people; we cannot isolate ourselves. Is there any way to have joy in spite of people?

#3 Things

A wealthy man was moving into his mansion, and his Quaker neighbor, who believed in simplicity of life, was watching the activities carefully. The neighbor counted the number of chairs and tables and the vast amount of bric-a-brac that was being carried into the house. Finally, he said to the lord of the mansion: "Neighbor, if thou dost need anything, come to see me and I will tell thee how to live without it!"

Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with his two sons, who were crying and fighting. "What's the matter with the boys?" a friend asked. 

"The same thing that's wrong with the whole world," Lincoln replied. "I have three walnuts and  each of the boys wants two!"

Things! What thieves they can be! Yet most people today think that joy comes from the things that they own. In reality, things can rob us of the only kind of joy that really lasts.

#4 Worry

This is the worst thief of all! How many people have been robbed of peace and fulfillment because of worry! In fact, worry even has physical consequences, and, while medicine can remove the symptoms, it cannot remove the cause. Worry is an "inside job." You can purchase "sleep" at the drug store, but you cannot purchase "rest."

If outlook determines outcome, then the attitude of mind that we cultivate will determine our joy or lack of it. 

*This is from Warren Wiersbe's commentary of Philippians called Be Joyful. I'll share more as I read on. 

AND NOW FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE!