18 April 2005 Devotion for Today "The Joy-Sucker" Philippians 4:2-3

18 April 2005    Devotion for Today  “The Joy-Sucker”  Philippians 4:2-3

 

The official Handbook of the United States Peace Corps tells us what a Peace Corp volunteer has to do if he is attacked by an anaconda snake. The anaconda is the largest snake in the world. You might think it was the boa constrictor. The anaconda is in the family with the boa constrictor, but it is larger than that. The anaconda snake grows to be 35 feet long and can weigh about 400 pounds. For the volunteers that are assigned to the Amazon Jungle, there is a section in the Peace Corp Handbook on what to do if you are attacked by an anaconda snake. There are 10 steps here that you are supposed to follow:  1. If you are attacked by an anaconda, do not run. The snake is faster than you are.  2. Lie flat on the ground. Put your arms tight against your sides, your legs tight together. 3. Tuck in your chin. 4. The snake will come and begin to nudge and begin to climb over your body. 5. Do not panic. 6. After the snake has examined you, it will begin to swallow you from the feet in, always from the feet in. Permit the snake to swallow your feet and ankles. Do not panic. 7. The snake will now begin to suck your legs into its body. You must lie perfectly still. This will take a long time.   8. When the snake reaches your knees, slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down and take out your knife and very gently slide it between the edge of the snakes mouth and your leg. Then suddenly rip upwards severing the snake’s head. 9. Be sure to have your knife with you. 10. Be sure your knife is sharp!

            To be sure, it is not likely that you will be attacked by an anaconda snake- at least not in Weeksville, NC.  But there are other things that can suck you down and swallow you up just the same.  For some it is a job that just gets under the skin. A neighbor that won’t respect your privacy.  A bully who is threatening you.  Maybe it’s traffic at rush hour.  Maybe its walking into a building early in the morning and find water pouring from the ceiling like Niagra Falls.  We can’t ignore the problems: each problem needs to be confronted.   But if we are not careful, those things can suck the joy-if not the life-right out of you.  That is way we have to keep ourselves sharp in the joy of the Lord.

            As Paul writes to the church in Philippi, he lauds them for many things.  But in chapter four we find that the church there was far from perfect.  In fact there arose a situation which threatened to suck the joy and the life out of that church:  “ I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. ³And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.

             Paul confronted a “joy sucker” in Philippi. Evidently two of the ladies couldn’t get along in the church. Paul pleaded for unity and cooperation, but he went further -- he gave them a formula for joy that works!  We will be looking at this formula this week.

           We live in an age of edgy, worried, peace-less people. We exist in a pressure cooker of racial tensions, family crises, financial and generational stress.   The "feel-good" approach doesn’t work.  Drugs and simple optimism wear off too quickly. The "don’t feel at all" approach is worse. You can only ignore a problem until it sucks us down. Then it may be too late to do something!   That’s like having an early lead in a football game, and playing defensively for the rest of the time. You’re on the field, but you’re not really playing -- just holding out till time ends.  You are not really enjoying the game- just marking time.  That is what we find so much in those who are in the game of life.  There is no enjoyment, because there is no joy.  Yet it is the joy that makes playing the game worthwhile.

            Don’t let the joy suckers pull you down today.  Lift up your eyes to the Lord and receive the fullness of His joy.   Have a blessed day.

(first of a three-part series)

 

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@earthlink.net

 

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