happiness

Fruitful Day 3 Lasting Joy

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Read His Words Before Ours!

John 15:9-17
2 Peter 1:1-8
Matthew 7:13-23
Psalm 16

Fruitful, Day 3

Happiness is a feeling, and as feelings go, they seem to change at the snap of a finger.
If you are like me, my feelings seem to be altered simply by the weather’s shift.

I’m no doctor, and I haven’t been diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder, but its description seems to fit the bill. Cloudy and overcast equals the blues. Sunshine and bright skies equal lifted spirits.

God’s Word offers a stabilizing anchor to my swinging tides of happiness in the richness of life-giving, always sustainable joy.

Unlike the emotion of happiness, joy is a fruit of the Spirit. This fruit grows over time as I daily surrender my life to Him and feast on His Word. I cannot do this in my own strength. There might be some benefit to ‘smile every hour to make yourself happier’, but this is not the fruit of lasting joy. One cannot simply “choose” to bear the fruit of joy. Rather, true and lasting joy is built through God’s character flourishing in our lives as we plant ourselves deep in the fertile soil of total surrender and dependence on Him.

“His (God’s) divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”
(2 Peter 1:3, emphasis mine)

When I am unhappy, there may be some hormonal or chemical imbalance, but largely, my unhappiness results from my lack of abiding in Scripture. All of God’s Word is true all the time. We must trust God’s Word above our feelings.

I want to shout with the Psalmist,
“You reveal the path of life to me;
in Your presence is abundant joy;
at Your right hand are eternal pleasures.”
(Psalm 16:11, emphasis mine)

Sisters, hear me, I need to shout that to myself even if, or especially when, I don’t necessarily feel joyful. When we don’t feel joyful, how can we align our hearts with the fruit God is surely working in us? In His presence.

In John 15:1-10, Jesus describes Himself as the Vine and His followers as the branches.
If we abide in Him, and follow Him in obedience,
then His Spirit is faithful to grow His own joy in us!

Jesus said of our insistent abiding in His presence and obedient following,
“I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11) Abiding in God’s Word, talking with Him in prayer, and obeying His commands opens the floodgate for His joy to be built in us!

Similarly, Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, you really are My disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

I’ve known and experienced the truth of these promises,
but I too often forget and go my own way.

I allow my feelings to dictate how I feel,
rather than the truth of God’s Word.

I will choose to binge watch TV, or neglect my Bible reading in exchange for more sleep rather than the eternal pleasure of God’s joy being built in me. No fleeting happiness will bring true, lasting joy. Temporary delights provide an adrenaline high to be sure, but are destined to crash and fall into the ever-lacking, supremely joyless reality of a life wrought by following my own way.

I would be lying if I told you there are no slivers of joy apart from Christ. The truth is that God graciously allows all people to experience portions of His joy in this life, but only believers in Christ can experience true, complete, lasting joy.

Maybe you feel tossed around by happiness or the lack thereof. Let’s take our cue from David’s confident song and Christ’s rich invitation, knowing the Holy Spirit will craft His joy in us as we surrender.

Let’s choose to abide with Him and receive the completeness of His joy.
Choose to believe God at His Word and find His joy that wins over feelings.
I can’t guarantee you’ll feel instant joy.

And I can’t guarantee that feeling of joy in abiding will stay with you when you wake up the next day. But we can rest on the assurance of Christ’s truth that when we abide, He grows His fruit of joy in us, regardless of how we feel from one snap of our fingers to the next.
We must preach truth to ourselves!

Christ, on the cross, substituted Himself in the place of sinners like you and me and He paid the penalty of death that our sin deserves.

He lived a perfect, sinless life despite hardship and persecution.
He did this, for the joy set before Him. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
That joy? It was the joy of bringing sinners home to be with Him forever in order to give glory and praise to God for all of eternity.

Lasting Joy

Christ knew that eternal joy would come through His sacrificial death. He achieved this joy by His victory over the grave and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. If we are in Christ, this joy is ours and His Spirit increasingly grows it within us.

Nothing, neither grief nor struggle, sickness or death can steal His lasting joy away.

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Incorruptible Day 10 Love That Lasts

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Read His Words Before Ours!

1 Peter 1:22-25 
1 Peter 2:11-16
Leviticus 19:16-18
John 13:34-35 

Incorruptible, Day 10

As the children got off the bus there was a buzz of animated chatter.
Just arriving for a week at camp, they were full of excitement and eager to get started. 

Well, most of them were... 

At the back of the line were two brothers, fear and apprehension written all over their faces.  Their response to the leaders’ friendly greetings was monosyllabic, their manner hesitant and uncertain.  It was all new to them and they had no idea what to expect. 

Fast forward a week, and children were piling back onto the bus to return home.  Again, the two brothers hung back, but this time their behaviour wasn’t motivated by fear and anxiety, but by reluctance to leave a place of happiness and a desire to say individual goodbyes to each leader. There were hugs, tears, and smiles, as we stood amazed at the radical transformation in such a short space of time. 

I’m convinced the reason was love.   

We had quickly discovered the two brothers had a difficult home situation.  They had never experienced a loving Christian community before, and the impact on them was profound.  It’s said that actions speak louder than words, and it’s true. The way we treat others and our attitudes towards them have more impact than we often realise. 

In his letter to the first-century Christians, Peter highlights this truth.  He writes to the believers about how to behave towards one another, towards their unbelieving neighbours, and those in authority.
He emphasises the lasting impact of their conduct. 

Peter implores, “show sincere brotherly love for each other,
 from a pure heart, love one another constantly.”  (1 Peter 1:22)
As these believers lived in difficult circumstances, facing opposition, persecution, and suffering, it was important they stood united. 

Peter tells them this unifying love springs from their new life in Christ.
They have been born again into His family as brothers and sisters and co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).  This love isn’t the mushy, romantic, feelings-based love the world portrays in songs and movies, but the committed, selfless, sacrificial love Jesus displayed in His life, death, and resurrection.  

Jesus Himself taught that loving one another was a mark of following Him, which would impact those who witnessed it. One cannot remain unchanged by love. 

Let’s be real though.
Loving others, even other Christians, is hard sometimes.
Opinions and personalities clash, we rub each other the wrong way,
we can act thoughtlessly and selfishly, and sometimes hurt one another. 

But we are still called to love.
Not because we have the ability on our own, but because, as Peter says, “we have been born again….(by) imperishable seed.” (1 Peter 1:23)

In 1 Corinthians 13 and Colossians 3, Paul details what it means to love with our new, incorruptible nature.
And it’s radically different from the world’s image of love.
Paul describes a patient, forgiving, enduring love that allows us to live in harmony even when it’s challenging. 

This love is impossible to work up by ourselves.
Love is a fruit of the Spirit, not our own efforts.
It is the result of God working within us enabling us to love.
However, it is also a choice we make to cooperate with God’s work in us, and be committed to this kind of love.

The word translated as “constantly” in verse 22 is rendered in other versions of the Bible as “earnestly“, “fervently“, or “with all your heart,” conveying the sense that this is a love we must choose and actively pursue.   

In chapter 2, Peter goes on to write about the importance of believers conducting themselves honourably before the unbelievers around them.  He encourages them that their actions and attitudes are a witness, pointing others to God! 

For the same reason, and with the same love, believers are called to submit to figures of authority, “for it is God’s will that you silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing good.“  (1 Peter 2:15) 

These must have been incredibly challenging instructions in a culture where the believers faced ridicule and intense persecution from authority, but they were called, by their love and their honourable behaviour, to glorify God and make Him known. 

The same challenge is for us today. 
How well do we love our Christian brothers and sisters?
How well do our actions witness to those around us?  
Are we truly known for our love?   

The impact of putting Jesus’ incorruptible love on display is great! 

I doubt that the two brothers who came to camp went home remembering much of what they heard about Jesus that week, but I do know they went home having experienced, probably for the first time, a loving community where they were valued, accepted, and deeply loved. 

For those brothers, that week was only the beginning.
The two boys returned year after year, gradually they began truly taking in what was being taught. Eventually they came to faith in Jesus for themselves! 

Our little acts of love may not seem like much, but their impact can be eternal.
Incorruptible love produces incorruptible results.
As Peter reminds, so much around us is fading,
but God’s Word, and the new life we have in Him – this life of love – remain forever!

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Misunderstood Day 3 God Wants Me To Be Happy

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
Psalm 84
Psalm 16:11
John 15:9-11
John 16:33

Misunderstood, Day 3

I kept telling myself I should be happy.
After all, my dream had come true. 

I had been accepted into a music performance course.  It was a highly regarded course with very few spaces, and this had been the focus of my efforts and attention for two whole years.  I had never worked harder for anything in my life, and I had been so excited to find that I had been accepted, but only a few days into the course I was left feeling that something was missing.

As the year went on, it only got worse.  The course was demanding, the atmosphere was competitive to the point of hostility, and no matter how hard I worked, it never seemed to be enough.  I began to lose the joy I had previously found in music, and I was left wondering why something which had promised such happiness had left me so disappointed.

There was also the question of where God was in this situation.  I had prayed, and I believed He had led me there.
Why had He done that if He had known it would be so disastrous?

Didn’t He want me to be happy?  

I think there are two common misconceptions we can have when thinking about God and happiness.

The first is thinking that, above all, what God wants is for us to be happy.
We have this idea that if we are following Him,
everything should fall into place,
our plans should succeed,
and life should go well.

The second misconception is thinking that God is uninterested in our happiness. Sometimes we get the idea that He only cares about our obedience.
If we surrender to Him, He will ask us to do the last thing in the world that we want to do. We will be miserable.

So, what does the Bible actually say?
Does God want us to be happy?

Yes!
He does!
But much depends on where we are seeking to find that happiness.
Sometimes the problem is that we’re looking in all the wrong places.

Solomon knew all about that.
The book of Ecclesiastes recounts his search for meaning in life and his pursuit of pleasure.  In worldly terms, he had it all: huge homes and beautiful vineyards, slaves to attend to his every need, larger herds and flocks than any king before him, abundant wealth. “Everything a man could desire” belonged to Solomon. (Ecclesiastes 2:8 NLT)

Yet none of this provided the happiness he was seeking.
Solomon obtained all the success he yearned for,
yet his conclusion was that it was futile and meaningless.

It’s just as easy to fall into that trap today.
Whether it’s success in music, academic or sporting achievements, relationships, wealth or popularity, it’s very easy to be drawn into seeking happiness in the wrong places.  There’s nothing wrong with enjoying these things, and they are good in many ways, but none of them can fully satisfy our desire for happiness.

Psalm 84 gives us a different perspective:

  • “Happy are those who reside in your house, who praise you continually.” (v4)
  • “Happy are the people whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.” (v5)
  • “Happy is the person who trusts in you, Lord of Armies!” (v12)

Here is someone who has found happiness.
It wasn’t from wealth, or success, or fame,
but from knowing God.
From praising Him.
From resting in His presence,
drawing strength from Him,
setting his heart toward Him,
and trusting Him.

This is true happiness, not the fragile, fleeting happiness we can find in favourable circumstances or success, but deep, lasting happiness that is secure.

Following God certainly doesn’t guarantee us a life free from trouble and suffering.
If I’m honest, sometimes I wish it did, but Jesus is clear:
“You will have suffering in this world.”  (John 16:33)
At the same time, though, He promises that in Him,
we can find joy that is complete.  (John 15:11)

We may not be happy about our circumstances,
but often the difficult times highlight our need for God and turn us to Him.

Looking back, we can sometimes see how He was at work, using those situations to refine our character. Even in the midst of them, there is joy to be found in knowing His presence is with us as David describes:
“In your presence is abundant joy; and at your right hand are eternal pleasures.” (Psalm 16:11)

Looking back, I am grateful that music failed to provide the happiness I was seeking, because it caused me to look elsewhere.
I realised my happiness would never be fully satisfied by success and achievement.
Instead, I was invited to seek that “abundant joy”
that can only be found in knowing God and His presence with us!

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Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

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