Rethinking happiness
That’s what we’ve been talking about at church for the past few weeks. Today we went over these points:
-It’s easier to be an admirer of Jesus than a follower. Admirers can watch from a distance and be largely unaffected. Followers are forced to follow the commands that often turn their lives upside down. (Phil. 2:5-11)
-We are called to: Be a blessing, humble ourselves, not count the cost. Not counting the cost means like if your child was in an accident, you wouldn’t go to the ambulance and say, “Hey, how much is this going to cost me, if it’s over $200 I’ll just take her home and slap a band-aid on it.” You would say, “Whatever it takes, make her well.” You aren’t counting the cost at that point, you are just taking life as a gift. So, we are meant to follow Christ without thinking about how much it may cost us (because we can’t see the future anyway.)
-Where do we find happiness? We are assured the ultimate victory in Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:13, Rev. 21:3, 4, 27, Rev. 22:5)
-Trials make us better in the long run (James 1:2-5)
-Ultimately we find happiness in our relationship with Jesus (Romans 15:13)
There’s a difference between seeking God and seeking God’s blessings. Search for Jesus and you will find happiness; search for happiness and it will elude you. They showed a video beforehand that asked ‘Are you happy?’, I wrote a poem to go with the video.
Are you happy now?
When you get that new car
When you go back to school
When you move out really far
When you start to look cool
Are you happy now?
When you finally have children
When your kids are grown
When you are not on the run
When you are all alone
Are you happy now?
When you get out of the rat race
When you try not to lie
When you own that new place
When you finally die
Are you happy now?
-Liese