Hitch Your Joy Wagon to Jesus

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I was never drawn to the "cowboy" scene when I was younger. Even today I am not a big fan of westerns. But I am fascinated by the horse-drawn wagons and the engineering behind it all. It delights me to watch how engineers today are simply expanding on the concepts introduced so many years ago. One basic principle remains the same: you need horsepower to move anywhere (real horses or "horses" produced by gasoline, sparks, and cylinders).

In a similar way, each of us has a wagon in our lives. It's called our "joy wagon." It carries our emotions, our demeanor, and our perspective. The problem comes when we hitch that wagon to a pair of horses who will lead us toward an unfulfilling destination. These horses could be anything in our lives that numbs us to the work of God--like a selfish relationship, an all-out pursuit of wealth, substances, or even meaningless religion. Horses like these (even taking a good thing and making it an ultimate thing) cannot deliver on the promise to take you where you want to go. Our emotions then become roller coasters, our face changes, and we see desires turn into demands.

So, hitch your joy wagon to Jesus instead. He knows the way to the abundant life (John 10:10), in fact He IS the abundant life (John 14:6). Nothing in the universe can satisfy your heart but Jesus and His beauty. And His horsepower is more than enough to carry you through to the end.