WHAT IS HAPPINESS???

There are LOTS of arguments, debates, and discussions about happiness and the Christian---

Many Scriptures are taken out of context, and often void of the preceding, or ensuing instruction which accompanies it! People quite frequently take one sentence and are convinced that line says it all!!!

*GOD* wants us to be happy IN HIM, and existing IN HIS WILL! HE wants us to be content IN our relationship with HIM, in our SERVITUDE TO HIM, and in the SERVING of others! HE wants us to find PEACE in HIS LOVE for us, in HIS GRACE, MERCY, and PATIENCE, and in our LOVE OF HIM, in our FAITH, and in our FAITHFULNESS! HE wants us to have WELL-BEING, body, mind, and soul foremost, FOR the purpose of greater ease of fulfilling HIS WILL during our time in this valley! IF people existed in the LOVE HE COMMANDS of us, there would never be any discussion about our happiness, as LOVE PROVIDES, and ENRICHES!!!

Unfortunately, in the human condition, numbers of people mistake happiness, and imagine it means wealth, fame, power, and other tangibles! Listen, there ARE many wealthy, famous, and powerful people out there, and most of them are NOT happy! In fact, a great number of them suffer from depression, and/or, have other issues which plague them! It is astounding how many people of privilege ARE suffering, and NEVER feel comforted by what they have, or their status! SO, I do not believe happiness is tangible, though to the poor, it might SEEM to be the ticket, they would be surprised!!!

One must first discover what happiness is, or isn't, and from where it derives, or doesn't! For instance, a number of people believe that in satiating their desires, they will find it, but more often than not, after doing so for long enough, are more empty, and discouraged! WHY is this???

Like fear, the ravenous appetite for happiness is a tool the enemy uses against us, UNLESS we are aware, and KNOW where TRUE happiness comes from! You see, in our PRIDE, which came to life in the Garden long ago, the enemy has CONVINCED us of our right to happiness, which he says is within our reach, IF we so allow ourselves to exist according to the desires we have, and that we will NOT suffer in any way in fulfilling them! The enemy stresses that if we have all we want, or need, we will find happiness in this realm, and that it IS right before us; which so many bite into it...

When CHRIST JESUS walked this Earth, HE COULD have existed in grandeur, and yet, that was not the case! HE COULD have had any thing in the world, and yet, such was NOT UP to HIS standards, and principles! Think about it; the enemy tempted HIM, and offered HIM all the kingdoms of the world, and more than we know, none of which appealed to HIM, BECAUSE THE FATHER'S WILL IS THE TRUE SOURCE OF HAPPINESS, and HE KNOWS it CANNOT be manifest IN the flesh, for it is OF SPIRIT, and IS INCORRUPTIBLE in design, and longevity!!!

Our LORD walked all over the countryside, and relied greatly upon the open kindness of strangers to accommodate HIM! HE existed simply, and found pleasure in ONE way, SERVING THE FATHER, and others! HE wept, HE PRAYED, HE suffered, HE did without, HE was given a hard road to tread, which HE did void of complaint, or whining that HE deserved better!!!

Yet, KINGLY was HIS nature; AWE-INSPIRING were HIS manners, and behaviours! HIS character was faultless, and HIS generosity of SPIRIT was impacting! HIS wealth was found in the vaults of HIS BEAUTIFUL heart, which HE shared with everyone! HIS JOY runs DEEPLY, yet is NOT tangible, EXCEPT in HIS paying it forward to those without HOPE, those who do not know LOVE, and those so very lost!!!

WE ARE to become CHRIST LIKE, in every feasible way, and so, one has to wonder if OUR perception of happiness can be brought into play in our adapting to HIS WAYS! THROUGH HIM we learn to recognize WHAT happiness consists of, and whether we are meant to be happy based on worldly ideals!!!

DEAD to the flesh, ALIVE in spirit; WHAT does this mean to us? Does it mean that we can exist as we desire? Or are we to exist IN HIS WILL? And DOES HIS WILL include the kind of happiness we fathom as happiness???

People argue that HE PROMISES HE will give us LIFE, and give it more abundantly, and HE DOES, which is mistaken to mean that HE will grant us all sorts of materialism! YES, HE DID grant material benefits to some of the ancients, but there was DIVINE reason in doing so, and only a few of these used them wrongly, or were badly influenced by HIS FAVOUR; all the rest HONOURED HIM in their acquisitions, and existed ACCORDING TO HIS WILL! When HE speaks of life more abundantly, HE IS speaking ahead, IN THE KINGDOM! Carnal happiness is NOT HIS objective, although surely, HE PROVIDES for what we NEED! The pursuit of worldly happiness, is often, a snare, and a trap...

*GOD* PROVIDES HAPPINESS in a way we can't quite relate to, and yet, it FILLS the being; HE one UPS it, and takes it to JOY! ONLY HE IS THE SOURCE OF TRUE HAPPINESS, it doesn't matter what the world thinks, or says!!!

What MAKES you happy? Money, power, expensive cars, huge houses, fine clothes, partying, sex? HOW long can any of these make you happy? Not long enough for us to not be off chasing after happiness again, and again, and again! Happiness of this world IS empty, in TRUTH!!!

No one is saying that you can't have things, or do this, or that, but I tell you what, if it ISN'T aligned to the WILL OF *GOD*, all of it is meaningless, and thus void, and WILL leave you longing for more!!!

CONTENTMENT IS the FOUNDATION on which happiness is built UP, and it IS derived of THE LORD *GOD*, and HIS WILL, for the JOY of THE LORD IS our strength, and our strength is comprised from many components of existing in allegiance with HIM!!!

When we are content IN HIM, we lack nothing, for HE IS THE SOURCE of ALL, and EVERYTHING, and PROVIDES for HIS CREATION, but even more so for HIS Children, which grants them every measure to ensure their WELL-BEING THAT they CAN better SERVE HIM, and others, FOR HIS GLORY, and the greater good of all, THROUGH LOVE, PEACE, HOPE, and JOY!!!

Am I happy? I AM happy IN THE LORD, in the world, not quite, but not unhappy either: I don't consider it a problem because HE IS my EVERYTHING, and HAS taken me through the strangest paths, and HAS PROVIDED for me every step, which means more to me than all the offerings of the world, because I was at the edge of eternal death, and I AM ever indebted, ever grateful, ever thankful, and ever appreciative OF HIS LOVE, GRACE, MERCY, and CARE for me! No one else was ever there for me, and so, I SEE where HONEST happiness lies; JOY IN THE LORD!!!

What did Apostle Paul say? 
PHILIPPIANS 3: 7-11...
7+++But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 
8+++More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
9+++and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
10+++that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
11+++in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Sincere Christians rejoice in Christ Jesus. The work of religion is to no purpose, unless the heart is in it, and we must worship God in the strength and grace of the Divine Spirit. 

They rejoice in Christ Jesus, not in mere outward enjoyments and performances. Nor can we too earnestly guard against those who oppose or abuse the doctrine of free salvation. If the apostle would have gloried and trusted in the flesh, he had as much cause as any man. But the things which he counted gain while a Pharisee, and had reckoned up, those he counted loss for Christ. 

The apostle did not persuade them to do any thing but what he himself did; or to venture on any thing but that on which he himself ventured his never-dying soul. He deemed all these things to be but loss, compared with the knowledge of Christ, by faith in his person and salvation. He speaks of all worldly enjoyments and outward privileges which sought a place with Christ in his heart, or could pretend to any merit and desert, and counted them but loss; but it might be said, It is easy to say so; but what would he do when he came to the trial? 

He had suffered the loss of all for the privileges of a Christian. Nay, he not only counted them loss, but the vilest refuse, offals thrown to dogs; not only less valuable than Christ, but in the highest degree contemptible, when set up as against him. 

True knowledge of Christ alters and changes men, their judgments and manners, and makes them as if made again anew. The believer prefers Christ, knowing that it is better for us to be without all worldly riches, than without Christ and his word.  

Let us see what the apostle resolved to cleave to, and that was Christ and heaven. We are undone, without righteousness wherein to appear before God, for we are guilty. There is a righteousness provided for us in Jesus Christ, and it is a complete and perfect righteousness. None can have benefit by it, who trust in themselves. 

Faith is the appointed means of applying the saving benefit. It is by faith in Christ's blood. We are made conformable to Christ's death, when we die to sin, as he died for sin; and the world is crucified to us, and we to the world, by the cross of Christ. 

The apostle was willing to do or to suffer any thing, to attain the glorious resurrection of saints. This hope and prospect carried him through all difficulties in his work. He did not hope to attain it through his own merit and righteousness, but through the merit and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

REV. LWINSOR © 2015
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS