Who Are You Allowing to Steal Your Joy?

I overheard a woman in a store complaining that someone else had done something that “ruined her day.”  That’s actually a pretty common thing for people to say these days.

So I have to ask myself, why is it that we allow other people to have so much power over us?  Allowing someone’s actions to have the ability to “ruin our day” is giving them way too much power.

We all have difficult people in our lives. We all have the same opportunity to choose how we will respond to them. It could be a neighbor, a coworker or even a family member who seems to always say the thing that pushes your buttons.  But how you respond is always your choice. No matter how much frustration they cause, no one has the power to control your response. YOU are the only one with that ability.

So who is the thief in your life?  If you named a particular person I have to tell you that you are mistaken. The real thief isn’t a person at all.

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

And 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

So you see, that situation that upset the woman I heard in the store was actually a trap. A trap that she fell into by her own choice. We have an enemy but it isn’t that person you struggle to get along with. It isn’t the things other people say or do that we should be concerned about.  There is an enemy and he has a plan. Our job is to be watchful and not take the bait.

So again I ask you, who are you allowing to steal your joy?