Happiness

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

 As an early Christian (and certainly before) I wasn't always a very "happy" person. I was very moody - some would say depressive - and I had no problem letting my face show it. If someone had quoted the above verse to me I probably would have muttered an expletive under my breath.

Most of you probably have heard a sermon on, or are familiar with the concept of "joy" versus "happiness". We are usually told that "joy" is something within that is constant and not necessarily expressed outwardly, as opposed to "happiness" which is a fleeting feeling expressed by our face, etc. 

I would agree with this observation, but I would also suggest to you that "joy" and "happiness" are one in the same, and the problem is in our idea, as well as source, of happiness. 

I just did a word search for "rejoice" in the Bible (New American Standard Version), and I was surprised to find many entries in the book of Deuteronomy, all of which were expressed in the form of a command to "rejoice" over God's provision.  I then looked up the Hebrew definition of the word to make sure I wasn't missing something, but the word literally means "to be brighten up", or "to be cheerful". Now I don't know if you can draw a distinction between "cheerfulness" and "happiness", but I can't. The Greek word for "rejoice" has pretty much the same meaning, as does both the Hebrew and Greek word for "blessed", and scripture tells us it is a perennial state we are supposed to be in.

Therefore we are to be happy all the time. This is where our society-defined concept of "happiness" has missed the mark, I believe. It's more than just a feeling, or something our facial muscles are doing. We don't need to sport a ridiculous smile on our face all the time: anyone can do that (although we certainly aren't to be walking around frowning all the time!*). Our happiness comes from within rather than circumstances, and the source of it is none other than God himself. 

Therefore if God's command to us is to "rejoice", happiness is more of a choice we make than a specific feeling. I wish I had known this when I was a depressed Christian. Instead I just became passive and waited for something or someone to lift me out of it. This is not the scriptural way to happiness. The scriptural way is found in Romans 15:13: "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Happiness was just around the corner, I just needed to look up. 

Looking "within" for happiness, as the world tells us, is just a "rabbit hole" of concentric circles where we just get more and more wrapped up in ourselves. But when we look up to God the source of happiness, He will fill us with joy and peace, and the ability to pass that happiness on to others. 

* like a "racoon sucking on a lemon" my former pastor used to say

A Dwelling Place (Pt. 1)

"I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob." Psalm 132:4-5

All of us have had that experience of something being "not right" within us. Work and our daily tasks seem impossible to do because we are unsettled and can't focus. We usually deal with this feeling in one of two ways: we press pass the feeling through busyness until the state is forgotten, or we take time before God to find out what it is that's troubling our soul. 

Many of you probably know that the Old Testament is rich is allegory with the spiritual truths of the New Testament. One prominent symbol or "type" in the Old Testament is the ark of the covenant. During the period of which King David was speaking in the Psalm above, the nation of Israel was in a state of unrest. King Saul had proven himself unworthy for the throne, and the nation sort of "informally" followed David, as he led them in battle. But Israel didn't yet have an "official" kingdom set up . Only when the ark came to its rightful place - the temple in Jerusalem - could God's kingdom be set up on earth. David knew this, and wouldn't rest until it was so.

God has, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, decided to set up His holy temple in the human heart today.  For anyone familiar with the lengths to which the ark of the covenant had to be carefully treated, this should strike fear and awe (as well as joy) in our hearts. With what carelessness we deal with God's presence! Our number one priority should be to make sure our temple is prepared and "in it's right place" for the "ark of the covenant" (i.e., the Holy Spirit) to occupy it.

We prepare ourselves for God's presence and assure that we are "right with God" by living a "lifestyle of repentance". That is, we are continually turning from sin and to God in our daily lives. Even the altar of God's presence was cleansed with blood (for the sins of the people). Once we have done this (i.e., believe the blood of Christ has cleansed our sins), we may enter the "Holy of Holies", and experience communion with God. (See Hebrews Ch. 9) It really is as simple as that.

Let us be clear, however, that it is not "feelings" we go by to determine whether God is "with us" or not , for they are deceitful (see Jeremiah 17:9). It is by the communion of our spirit with God's Spirit that we know we are "right" with God as well as "standing upon" what His Holy Word says, when our thoughts and feelings are in contradiction. . Thus not every time we are "feeling bad" are we "out of sorts" with God. We need, therefore, to distinguish between natural and spiritual troubles*.  This is the deeper life of walking with God, and it is a lifelong process.

David knew the only way the nation of Israel could be "right" was if God was in His rightful place in their lives. Let us prepare our temples to let God have full reign in our lives, so His kingdom come and will be done here on earth. 

*  It is my experience that people in general are quick to assign "natural" causes ("tired", "something they ate", e.g.) to their problems, and are simply wanting a quick fix.

Renouncing All You Have

“So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” Luke14:33

I was recently struck by the above Revised Standard Version (RSV) translation of this verse. Did a word jump out at you, too? The word I’m thinking of is “renounce”. 

Most bible versions translate this word (Greek: apotassomai) as “forsake” or “give up”. These are indeed acceptable translations, since the word literally means “to say adieu” to something. But words like “forsake” or “give up” give the idea that we are supposed to literally give all our earthly possessions away (or at least be willing to). 

On the other hand, the word “renounce” is defined in Webster’s dictionary as: “to disown; to disclaim; to reject; to refuse to own or acknowledge as belonging to”; and I believe this is the attitude God wants us to have toward our possessions. 

At first this may seem like a cop-out or twisting of scripture: “Yay, we get to keep the wide screen TV!” But in reality I think the concept of renouncing is even more demanding. You see, the idea of giving things away and living a simpler, even ascetic life is not specific to Christianity, and may even be desirable for some (i.e., some of us might just want to get rid of our junk!). But the idea of renouncing at its heart really means to put everything we have on this earth at the Lord’s disposal.

The next word in the passage I want to look at is “cannot”. Most translations word it this way, but really the Greek literally means “to not be able to”. This may not seem different to you than “cannot”, but listen to it in context: “...whoever of you does not renounce all that he has will not be able to be my disciple”. Notice the difference? To me it means, rather than God making a decision of whether or not we are disciples, the onus, or, responsibility, is on us. 

It is human nature to avoid responsibility. A common question Christians get asked is “why would a loving God send people to hell?” A careful student of the bible will know that scripture does not teach any such thing. Everyone will be held responsible for their own decisions. Anything less is not free will. 

In the same way God calls us into a relationship with Him which the Bible calls being a disciple, or “learner” of Christ. He does not compel anyone to do this, nor does the Holy Spirit “control” anyone, but He lovingly beckons the person, and lets them make their own decision. The only question is whether they will follow.

We may preach about giving or "stewardship" in our churches, but at its root it’s all about discipleship. In reality discipleship supersedes the stewardship issue, because from our scripture we can see that a church full of [Jesus’ definition of] disciples doesn’t need to worry about its finances, because everything has already been laid at the Lord’s disposal! 

God is lovingly calling us to be disciples of Christ. Will we heed the call?