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I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:8–11

This morning I was watching an interview with Kobe Bryant in which he described his formula for success in basketball
(https://youtu.be/hMqEAlRk-SY?si=T1d5OJmaLqeJTN9u). He said,

“Look at how much more training I have done by simply starting at 4:00 a.m.… the years go by, and the separation that you have with your competitors and your peers just grows larger and larger and larger… so to me it was just common sense. I’m thinking, how can I get an advantage? ‘Oh—start earlier!’ By starting at 4:00, I could be the best basketball player I could be, and so that’s where it comes from for me.”

It’s pretty inspiring to listen to that interview. If you want to succeed, you need to put the time in. If you believe you can succeed, you have to put the time in. To take the inspiration and make sure it doesn’t fall short as merely an aspirational thought—to turn it into reality—you need to put the time in.

Without making our faith a works-based activity—if you know me, you know I don’t ascribe to that train of thought—we do need to spend time with Jesus if we desire to maintain our faith and our joy. Piggybacking off yesterday’s post, if we want to maintain our joy, then we’re going to need to spend time with Jesus when the negative distractions of this world set in.

Kobe believed he could be the best basketball player in the world, and he acted according to that belief. The question is: Do we believe that Jesus came as God incarnate, lived His life in perfection, died as our penal substitute, and then rose to life as our eternal guarantee? If we believe that, how do we act accordingly?

The theological center of this morning’s passage is verse 10:

“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”

David, who wrote this psalm, did die and was buried. His body did see decay. So David was not speaking of himself, but rather prophetically of the Messiah—Jesus. Peter, in Acts 2:25–31, and Paul, in Acts 13:35–37, both quoted these words as pointing directly to Jesus. It was their belief that motivated them to act consistently, and that belief shaped them into two of the greatest models of the Christian faith we have.

I believe their actions—taking their faith beyond mere aspirational thought—are what enabled them to have joy in their sufferings. Paul said it this way in Romans 5:3,

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance.”

And Peter wrote in 1st Peter 1:6–7,

“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

If a couple of the greatest models of the Christian faith were to sit down and give us an interview, how would they answer the question, “What do you attribute to your success as a Christ-follower?” Would they say praying longer… studying more… serving others more consistently? Those things may be the result of their faithfulness. But can’t you just hear them say, “I don’t attribute my success to these actions as much as I attribute it to my belief in and love for Jesus. Jesus is the reason for the ‘success’ you see.”

Folks, do we truly believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that He has provided a way for us to live forever in the presence of God? If so, shouldn’t that motivate us to seize every moment to draw closer to Him by aligning our lives with what we know pleases Him? Shouldn’t we desire to be communicating with Him as much as possible?

Can we say that Jesus is the reason my heart is glad and my glory rejoices? Praying that your joy is realized in the revelation that Jesus the King who is coming again.