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Is the end goal of life simply, 'To be happy'?
Many would say YES.
But tough situations arise, and life circumstances often go against what would cause us to call ourselves 'HAPPY.'
So should we abandon everything that comes as a challenge or as a strain since it's not exactly what we may have wanted?
Perhaps some things are worth leaving in the past, but challenges are often what God uses
to develop us into stronger warriors in life. So here, we need discernment.
One important question is this: Does God define true JOY in the same way we think of when we seek happiness in life?
1 Timothy does mention that God has given us all things freely to enjoy, but of course,
this is within the context of not violating the boundaries of Christian liberty.
How do we define happiness?
'happy' used to mean, 'Having good fortune'
The use today refers to a byproduct of that definition --
essentially an emotion of anything from contentment to extreme joy.
Some identify Happiness by cues of smiling or laughter, others scale it by how much they love a certain thing.
In the musical, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," writer Clark Gesner concludes a song about happiness by stating,
"Happiness is anyone and anything at all, that’s loved by you." That's very prosaic, but that's a common perception even today.
But is 'what we love' always what leads to true and lasting joy?
Perhaps some forms of our experience of happiness are quite fleeting...
and in other instances, they're gifts from God that are meant to last.
From another angle, even though happiness is seen as an ultimate goal by many,
some only claim happiness at the expense of others or as the result of corrupt living.
Often people will only say that they're happy when they have exactly what they want,
and yet what creates a feeling of happiness may be the cause for someone else's pain.
So what is there to pursue? Does God always want us to be 'happy'?
By many of our definitions, NO! Many times, we don't get exactly what we want, and thus, we're not 'happy.'
As children, sometimes our curiosity would bring us even to putting our hand on a hot stove.
Initially, we thought we'd be happy by finding out what it felt like,
but hopefully a parent saw beyond that whim and would protect us from touching that burning stove.
God often operates in a protective manner. His desires for us are for our best, but we often don’t see that.
One of the fruit of the Spirit (or 'results of the Spirit's work') is JOY, and we see that truth from Galatians 5.
God desires for us to have lasting JOY, but JOY is not always grasped by getting everything we desire.
The Kingdom of God is characterized by Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17)
So does God want us to be full of joy? YES! Of course, and eventually, YES, definitely,
but this is often through contentment, or as an end product of our faith as we walk with Jesus.
True happiness is rooted in love. First, love for God. Second, as a result of love for God,
love for others FROM the love that God gives us.
Some attributes of Love? Not jealous, not boastful, not insistent, not selfish.
The list goes on in 1 Corinthians 13.
Our happiness should be rooted in love. It should be inwardly felt and outwardly expressed,
and it should be an expression of love for one another, not at the expense of one another.
Does this mean that we will never be sad or angry or at unease in this life...or is it wrong to be?
No, of course not! We experience the full range of human emotions in this life.
Often God will speak to us through our response to the world around us, and we need to grow through that.
God created emotions -- He wants us to use them properly and to experience them in full.
We CAN be sinful in using them, and it's not a requirement, but we often ARE sinful in using them.
For example, Scripture says, 'Be angry and sin not' in Ephesians 4:26,
but note that this also means that we CAN be angry without sinning. Remember Jesus?
He overthrew the greedy money-changers in the Temple. He experienced the full range of emotions, even anger,
and we see this from Matthew 21.
He also experienced great grief and sorrow in His life.
He grieved when Lazarus was dead, when He saw everyone mourning, in John 11.
"Jesus Wept" - the shortest English verse in the Bible. It has SUCH significance!
We see the compassion of Jesus, and that He grieves with those who grieve, and that's how we should be, as well.
He also grieved when cities were unrepentant (cf. Matthew 11:20-24)
He grieved greatly in the Garden as He prayed before the time of His Crucifixion (cf. Luke 22:44)
So it's not a bad thing to live and experience life, and in many cases, happiness is great!
But regarding emotions, our RESPONSE is of utmost importance.
Our heart should always find room to rejoice.
Scripture does say, "REJOICE ALWAYS" (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
God does want us to be full of joy and hope in this life, and it's found mainly through Jesus Christ.
With this in mind, sometimes we are given hard situations in which we have to strive through and endure,
and these are for our ultimate benefit.
In a battle, you fight. Let's not surrender this battle that needs to be won.
As James states, we are to rejoice when trials come.
We should be thankful to God for all He has done for us.
He loves us so much that He had His Son die for us, so that through a response of REPENTANCE from any evil,
and on the other side of the coin, a response of FAITH in Him, we can spend eternity with Him in true joy,
in a better place where He will wipe every tear from our eyes.
This is the hope that believers can look to, and this is true and full happiness, and thus we can be joyous!
But again, we need to respond in faith.
True contentment comes from knowing Jesus and being freed from our bondage to sin.
If you would like this to be true of your life and you haven't yet, please pray with me:
Father, we thank You for creating our emotions.
Help us use them in a proper way, and help us enjoy this life.
We acknowledge our sinfulness.
Forgive us of our sins, in Jesus' Name.
We trust in Your Son's Death and Resurrection and gladly rejoice in eternal life through His Sacrifice.
We accept that for our lives, Father. Help us grow and give us strength to point others to You.
Let us make disciples, as You have commanded us. We pray all this, Lord, and we commit our lives to You,
In Jesus' Name, Amen.
One great thing about videos is that you can rewind it back.
If you need to commit your life to Jesus, why not rewind a bit and make the prayer your own and personal?
GET RIGHT with God at all costs, and may God give you lasting joy as you walk with Him,
may He grant you continual victory over sin and temptation,
and may all who have trusted in Jesus look forward to the full inheritance that we have through Jesus,
which brings us true joy. With that in mind, rejoice always in Jesus!
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