Holiness and Happiness

An article appeared on Livescience.com today. It is called, "Don't Worry: Happiness Levels Not Set in Stone". The main point of the article is that happiness is not genetically prewired. Happiness can change for all of us throughout our lives. They point to things that really happy people have in common. One of those things is going to church. I find this interesting for a very good reason. In my interactions with people who call themselves Christians I have often heard a comment about happiness. It usually comes from someone facing a challenge in their lives. It goes something like this, "God wants me to be happy doesn't He?"

What always strikes me as interesting about these comments is that they usually come from people going through situations where they are being pushed by the circumstances to lean more on God. God will place us in situations that strip away the earthly things that we depend upon. He does this to bring us into a greater dependence on Him and to help us to know Him better. Job went through this very thing. God led Job to a place where he looked back on what he went through and declares that he has seen things too wonderful for him (Job 42:3). What Job went through stripped him of everything that he had to enjoy and depend on except for God. Yet Job appears to count it as all worth it because He has come to know God better. James says a similar thing in James 1:2-4,

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

It appears that James point is that God wants us to be holy or set apart to Himself more than He want us to be happy. But here is the great irony for those who come to embrace knowing God. In coming to know and depend upon God we will find that there is greater peace and joy in knowing God than in not knowing Him. You see when we are depending on Him we know that the things our heavenly Father takes us through are for our benefit. When we realize that even the challenges are there to help to shape us we can rejoice in them (Philippians 4:4). Does God want us to be happy? No God wants us to be Holy, but in the midst of embracing the holiness that He is producing in us we will find true and lasting happiness and joy.

Sports director calls the God play

I read a lot of different articles staying abreast of what's happening in the world and always have my eye peeled for something that might be a good topic to discuss the way a God focused life would change or impact the outcome. (My goal here is to make this a practical discussion of a spiritual relationship with God impacts or should impact the physical life that we lead.) I saw what I thought would be an article to discuss on Christianity.com. It was called, "Reviewing the video might be key to ending spiritual slumps..." I'll be honest my first thought was OK this David Burchett is a sports director. Given the title I thought he was going to talk about how we look back at our lives to see how to do better. I had my thoughts churning out a reply as I started to read the article. This was going to be an easy reply. Contrast David asking us to look at our own lives with the real answer which is to look at Jesus...And then as I got half way through the article I realized that I had just run across a brother who was living a God focused life in the real world. His article is great!!! Go read it (the title above is a link to it). His main point is that the good times in our lives are when we are living our lives looking to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. The article is well written and short and well worth the read. So go. Go now and I will be back with more tomorrow.

Happiness: SELF focused vs. God focused - Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post. Yesterday Lucy Danziger published an article called, "4 Simple Secrets to Feeling Happier Every Day." Lucy is the Editor-in-Chief of SELF magazine. I plan on addressing the points of her article over several days. Point two in the article is, "Now is the moment! Enjoy it!" Her main point here is slow down. Once again a point that needs to be considered by all of us. But the reason we slow down as Christians is so important. For most of us I think we slow down, when we slow down for the same reasons that Lucy states. It seems to me that a focus on God at the heart of our slowing down will not only give us good memories but will rejuvenate our souls. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Let's take her example of the playground. There are so many things there that can draw our hearts to God and to thanking Him for His great works. We can thank Him for providing us with health to be there. We can thank Him for transportation to get there. We can thank Him for senses to be aware of where we are. We can thank Him for the resources that were used to create the playground. We can thank Him for the plants, animals and bugs that might capture our attention there. The list could go on and on. This heart of thanksgiving will rejuvenate our spirits. Not only will it rejuvenate us, it provides an opportunity for us to direct our children's attention to God as well. It is in waiting on God in the midst of life that our hearts are filled.  Isaiah 40:31 says, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Our hearts will rejoice in God as we seek to focus on our Lord Jesus in the midst of the day to day activities of life.

Is the goal of parenting our happiness??

There was an article on my news feed today called, "Two Simple Ways to be a Happier Parent".  While the fundamental premise of having a more peaceful home is laudable it ignores a more important issue that should present itself to each of us as followers of Jesus Christ. The reality is that as we deal with the children that God has blessed us with we are faced with the fact that they are fallen and in rebellion by nature against God. Because of that fallen nature all parents have conflict. Dealing with fallen children with the goal of raising them to develop their own God focused life will result in conflict. The conflict for the Christian parent will result when God's call comes into conflict with our fallen natures. As parents our correction should be focused on directing them toward God. Ultimately one of our key goals should be to help our children develop self-discipline.  Self-discipline is necessary to pursue God on their own should they come to be His followers. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” I seek to instill in my children one primary thing. If they learn nothing else from me I want them to remember, that the most important person they must come to know and pursue with all of their hearts is our Lord Jesus Christ. If they enter into eternity without Him they are bound for eternal death. If they come to repent of their sins and know and pursue Jesus eternal life is theirs. Then they too can end up living a God focused life. For us as christian parents our greatest happiness will be realized not in having a peaceful home but being at peace with God and having children that are at peace with God. Our happiness will be found in Jesus and having a life focused on Him.