Organizing the Inside – Day 144 Happiness or Holiness? You Decide

January 25, 2012 at 12:00 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Faith, Inspiration, Purpose, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Christian, Christianity, Happiness

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free. ~Luke 4:18

Why must we choose?
Is Christianity supposed to be a “woe is me” way of life? Surely we know that there will be suffering. We live in a world that is full of sin and some suffering will occur.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.Romans 8:18

Are we destined to struggle and suffer to show our loyalty and finally find happiness only “when we all get to heaven?”  There are of course endless lists of songs and sermons alike, that teach Christians that God cares nothing about their happiness; they are highly mistaken. If you’ve lived in the world as a true lover of sin,(which I have) during that time I suspect you never once experienced real happiness. I had no concept of unspeakable joy or peace, and unexplainable happiness never once crossed my path. It would require a huge suspension of disbelief to think that a loving God who is full of compassion, who came to redeem the lost, was disinterested in the happiness of His children.

Laughter is a celebration of His goodness.
God wants our lives to glorify Him. If you openly show an emotional expression of happiness it generally results in a smile.  Of course God cares about your happiness and He gave you specific muscles in your face to glorify Him with a bright smile. Run, jump and leap for joy if you dare express the overwhelming gratitude you experience each time you reflect on Christ’s sacrifice for your freedom – surely this makes you happy, indeed you must experience happiness.  What slave is unhappy to discover that her master has finally set her free? The slave that is ignorant to the limitless liberties of true freedom, because her mind is still trapped in captivity. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10

Abundant life brings happiness.
Shed the sadness, the despair and defeat. Look for new ways to enjoy God’s gift of happiness.
Let go of false reasoning like, God wants you to get sick so that He can teach you a lesson. His Word is sufficient to teach any life lessons needed.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
Often Christians don’t have any idea why they believe what they believe. At times we mistake a long-standing false belief as something true; simply because we’ve believed it since we can remember.
Perhaps you’ve accepted years of untrue assumptions like, God wants you to live in poverty and not be able to adequately feed your family so that you can find comfort in Him.

An omnipotent God does not need to make you ill or broke to glorify Himself.

Let go of fear and find the freedom that’s yours…trust God.
There may be thoughts lingering in the recesses of your mind that you cannot articulate. Are your thoughts telling you to fear happiness, because when you are too happy something awful is bound to happen, to knock you back down to size?  I’m not the only one who thought this way. Some sinners – having fun sinning, have only seen the down trodden side of some Christian’s lives and they’ve decided, being a sinner or a Muslim is a much better deal. We know nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m reminded of the lovely Christian family who live across the street from us. They were a young married couple who had five beautiful girls all under the age of eight. We’d all often ride to church together, twice on Sundays and both Wednesday and Friday nights for bible study. This young couple experienced so much pain. Neighborhood style “drama” fights would originate across the street between the mom and dad.  Wednesday night bible study was often painful to sit through, because we’d have testimony and prayer request time. Well, this family had enough burdens to keep the most optimistic Christian in a cloud of doubt. Week after week, we saw how this family struggled being 14 mortgage payments behind; and always with a sad story about how they were struggling to make it in. They were often sick and feeble-minded, as they spoke about their most recent illnesses and how God was getting His point across. One day, the girls and I were hanging around outside chatting. The oldest one spoke of how she never wanted to become a Christian. She said, she saw how miserable both her parents were and Christianity was not for her. I felt such sadness, and while I tried my best (a new baby Christian myself) to tell her that God could fix things for her family, she wasn’t convinced.  She’d grown up seeing her parents caught up in a life of heartbreaking, false beliefs. They clearly spoke openly about how God was doing all this to make them better saints. Years later, I saw the oldest daughter; she’d grown up to be an absolutely beautiful woman, with children of her own. I talked to her about the Lord, hopeful she’d found her way home. Shy and unassuming, she explained with what seemed to be genuine excitement; how she’d recently married and became a Muslim a few years back.

Maybe it’s time Christians start living holy lives that are fulfilled and happy.  Maybe it’s time we put away vain pursuits and decided to do the will of God.  Being afraid to be happy is giving your false inner voice far too much power in your life. Yes your life and mines serves as a witness to others  and the way you live your life is the only bible some people will ever read.

Jesus loved His closest friends.
I believed when Jesus hung out at Lazarus’ house where He sometimes went to chill and get away from the crowds;  He was happy while being holy. We know that He cried about the death of His dear friend Lazarus. I believe He also was happy once Lazarus was raised from the dead. When your friends are made free or a long time sinner repents, doesn’t heaven rejoice? Is it a celebration of happiness in the midst of holiness?  No need to choose holiness over happiness. Experience the abundantly living that the Anointed One came to give. Release your fears and live a happy life in the beauty of holiness.

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