Living a Happy Life: A 7-Day Devotional for Parents About Living From Acceptance—Not for AcceptanceSample

Day One: Two Ways to Live

Two fifth graders will go to soccer practice today. One will play to achieve victory—victory over others and victory for himself. The other will give his best too, but for a different reason. He already has victory because of Jesus, and now he is able to enjoy and play with freedom. He plays with less pressure and more joy. 

Two doctors will perform surgery today. One will perform surgery because he wants to prove himself valued. The other will perform surgery with the gracious confidence that he is already valued because of Christ’s work on his behalf. 

Two artists will paint today. One will paint because she longs to be approved, and if the painting is “just right” then perhaps people will approve of her. The other artist paints because she is already approved in Christ, and she enjoys creating because her Savior is creative and has given her the passion to create. 

You can’t tell the two fifth graders, the two doctors, and the two artists apart from their activities or their jobs. They will do many of the same things today, but why they do those things is very different. In the children’s story The Quokkas, The Snails, and the Land of Happiness, the Quokkas and the Snails live similar lives, but they live with very different motivations. The Snails live for approval. The Quokkas—the happy ones—live from a position of already being approved. 

There are two ways for you to live as well. You can live for victory or from the victory that Christ has secured for you. You can live for approval or from the approval that God has given to you. You can live to justify yourself or from a posture of already being justified because of Jesus. 

Because Christ has made you right with God, you don’t have to live for. You can live from. And when you do, you are filled with the peace and joy of God.