Jesus: The Source of True Happiness

 

Then he said to them all, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will save it.”  Luke 9:23-24

 Jesus ushered in His upside-down kingdom. In it, whoever would like to be first must be last. Whoever loses their life for Jesus’ sake will save it. It went contrary to everything the religious institutions stood for. It defined true success and happiness and divested the clergy of all of their perceived power and uniqueness. Turns out that God loves everyone and wants us all to come to Him and live in relationship with Him. Instead of it being a select few that acted just right in public and gave lots of money to the temple, God actually saw value in prostitutes and tax collectors as well, if not even more so because they were capable of seeing their need for God and appreciate His grace and provision for them.

 People like to camp out on the verses in the Bible that say God will give us whatever we ask for (John 14:13) and that we will live an abundant life in Him (John 10:10), but you can’t just cherry-pick what you want from the Bible and ignore the rest. You have to consider the whole of what God teaches us. With regard to these last two verses, God promised us that He would give us whatever we ask for, when we ask in His will. When our hearts are aligned with God, we will want what He wants, and then of course we will get it. That abundant life? That can only be found in Christ! Apart from Jesus we cannot begin to experience abundance and joy. The pleasures of the world are empty and worthless when compared to the life we have with God. So, when Jesus tells us that we will have life abundantly, He’s not saying we will be rich and live in a fancy house and drive an expensive care and buy all kinds of fashionable clothing. No! He’s saying we will find true joy in Him and regardless of our physical, temporary circumstances we can be happy and at peace knowing that He’s got everything under control. He’s saying that even though my husband doesn’t have a job and he feels rather at loose ends, we don’t have to despair or worry, we can live an abundant life full of joy and hope knowing that God is in control and has a plan all worked out.

 I did a quick search to see what the Bible had to say about whether or not God wants us to be happy and along with my search came CoPilot’s synopsis about the question. I was rather surprised to find that even a computer, when analyzing the teachings of scripture, was able to discern God’s heart and truth. Here’s the summary of what CoPilot learned:

While the Bible affirms that God wants us to be happy, it also emphasizes that this happiness is rooted in a deeper relationship with Him and living according to His principles. Happiness is not merely about fleeting pleasures but is connected to spiritual fulfillment, joy in serving others, and a life aligned with God's will. Thus, true happiness, as portrayed in the Bible, is a profound and lasting state that comes from knowing and trusting God.

 Period! Jesus doesn’t promise us a life of ease where nothing will go wrong, and we’ll never experience pain. What He does promise is peace and joy in Him and that He will be with us no matter what. We see an end goal of saving our lives, but when we lay those lives down, when we choose not to seek our own pleasure and gain, then, miraculously, we find our true lives, our true peace and happiness. What does that all mean? How do we take up our cross daily and follow Him? That’s a really good question, and not one I claim to have a great answer to, but here’s my thoughts today. Jesus tells us that we are to take up our cross, not His. He doesn’t say that we have to pick up His cross, that we have to do the things He did or bear the burden He bore. He says that we have our own burden to bear, our own challenges in life to face. I think this is individual, that it is different for everyone. For some people this cross might be the tragic loss of a loved one, for others it might be addiction. The list is not limited because I think it is as varied as the billions upon billions of people God made. What would be difficult for me might be easy for someone else. Lately I’ve been exploring the idea of embracing my pain and suffering instead of trying to fight it and medicate it away. The days and times when I truly explore this it actually seems to go quite well. No, I don’t feel any better, but emotionally I handle it so much better than when I’m trying to figure out the next pain management tactic. And realistically I don’t feel much worse either!

Here's the Thing: Is pain my cross to bear? Maybe. Or maybe it is one of my crosses. I don’t know. Honestly, I’m just bumbling through this and hoping that my ramblings will speak to someone else’s heart too!