A while ago, our baseball team played an opponent we should have probably defeated, but we made some costly errors. The following day I was doing my devotion from “The Daily Light Journal” by Anne Graham Lotz. The title was “The Fruit of the Spirit Is…Joy.” That prompted me to think about the joys that had come through even in our team’s struggles: the salvation of a teammate, the development of many young players, the ability to lose and continue to practice hard. The list goes on and on.

During the devotion, I also thought about my attitude. Our pastor once shared with us that JOY can serve as an acronym for Jesus, Others, You. During this tough season, I had been worrying about me. I was concerned with the You, instead of being concerned about Jesus and others.

Do we not all find ourselves forgetting about Jesus and others and concentrating on the YOU? It says in the FCA Competitor’s Creed: “I am the Lord’s warrior—a competitor by conviction and a disciple of determination. I am confident beyond reason because my confidence lies in Christ. The results of my efforts must lie in His Glory.” You see, our results, good or bad, are part of God’s plan. We must have joy no matter the circumstances. It is easy to have joy when things are going great, but when things seem at their worst is when we must rise up and have joy inside ourselves and in the presence of others.

JOY: We must keep Jesus first, others second and then ourselves third. Paul kept his joy through Patmos; Job kept his joy through devastation, and Jesus had joy on the cross. Where is your JOY?