Where to Find Happiness

“The happiness we are looking for is not found in marriage, success or any other earthly human experience we can control or create for ourselves.”

Have you ever said to a friend or family member, “I just want you to be happy.” as they were considering marriage, a new job or some other major decision? (Image from Sasha Freemind on Unsplash)

Once I watched a documentary on a highly accomplished NBA basketball player from the 1980s and 90s. The program ended with the camera on him as he said, “I have five NBA Championships and I’m world famous. Is that supposed to make me happy?” Then he bowed his head and began to weep.

Happiness is that inner experience some label as a state of contentment and well-being. How many of us want that for ourselves or wish it for those whom we love? It often seems the inner experience of happiness is tied to something external. Like if we find marriage or love externally, that will provide us happiness internally. If we find success externally, that will provide happiness internally. As a result, we search the world over for something that will provide us that inner happiness.

I firmly believe we were all created to want this happiness for ourselves. This is the common human experience. Rich or poor. No matter our race or religion, we hunger to be happy.

Jesus once made a startling claim to a crowd about Himself, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). These words of Jesus show His understanding of the human heart. He knew people were searching outwardly for what they longed for inwardly. Sometime after these words were spoken, Jesus went on to suffer, die, then rise again. After He arose and ascended back to His home in heaven, He sent His Spirit to live on the earth. His Spirit indwells anyone who turns from their evil ways and trusts in Jesus alone for complete forgiveness for all they have ever done wrong. When this happens, the Spirit brings the life of Jesus into that individual which gives, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). Right there, that is what every human truly longs for. It is something deeper and more profound than superficial happiness.

What we are looking for is not found in marriage, success or any other earthly human experience we can control or create for ourselves.

The contentment, joy and meaning in life we seek is found in Jesus and nowhere else. And it is not something He dispenses outside of Himself. He embodies it all. When we come to our senses and realize we have been going after the wrong things and receive the Spirit of Jesus within us, we receive all of who He is.
Are you ready to stop going here and there looking for temporary happiness? Are you ready to surrender all to Christ?

A prayer for you - Lord God, I pray you will lead those who are searching for contentment and inner well-being to Christ. Open their spiritual eyes to see that Jesus is all they are looking for, that in Him all their desires and longings will be met. Bring them to surrender all, to turn from their ways and trust in You with all their heart. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Stop Judging Me!

“God calls every one of us to treat others with love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness, while exercising self-control.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” (Matthew 7:1) This is a popular Bible verse that is used by people to shame their critics. “Stop telling me what I should be doing. It’s my choice. Plus, Jesus said not to judge, and that’s what you’re doing to me.” (Image by Nino Carè from Pixabay)

 

Is this what Jesus and the Bible teaches, that no one should ever voice opposition to another? Of course not, and this is not what the often-quoted Bible verse is referring to anyways.  

 

When Jesus talks about judging, He is referring to making some kind of decision or judgement about someone. The judgements can be made based on what another person has said, done, written, thought, posted on social media or even what their motives are. Jesus is not talking about legal judgements, but personal relationships. How we treat family, friends, neighbors, or even our enemies.    

 

Look at this illustration Jesus gave about judging, to help us understand, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” (Matt. 7:3-4)

 

Jesus is not saying, to never speak up and address someone’s behavior. Far from it. He encourages us to do that, and models it for us as well. Instead, Jesus is addressing not being a fault-finder or critic on minor, inconsequential things. Additionally, when dealing with people on both the small and big things, He is telling us to not have a morally superior attitude that looks down on them.

 

Here are four lessons from Jesus about why we should not have this kind of judging spirit.

 

1-Because it belittle’s others while portraying you as more virtuous. Observe in Jesus’ illustration, that the one with the log in his own eye, was completely oblivious to it. All he noticed was the speck in the other person’s eye.

 

When we have this type of spirit, all we can see are other people’s problems. We are blinded to our own short-comings, while being eager to point them out in others. This is a self-righteous kind of judging, that portrays others as inferior to you.       

 

2-Because it turns us into critics. When we have a giant log in our eye, so we cannot see clearly, we end up with a judgmental spirit on the small stuff. The situations are not moral failures, sins or crimes. No, they are trivial things people have disagreed with us on, or they have fallen short of our standards in some way. Yet, instead of overlooking inconsequential things, we focus on them and go to battle.   

 

3-Because it unfairly condemns people. When we judge this way, we treat people unjustly and inconsistently.

 

4-Because the same measure will be used against you. Jesus gives a warning to fault-finding, morally superior people. One day we all will stand before God to be judged justly and fairly. However, God says that the same standard by which we judged others, will be used against us. This is to give us pause and maybe even a sense of fear and trembling. For the Scripture says, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God…” (Romans 14:10)

 

So how are we to engage with people in both the small and big things? God calls every one of us to treat others with love, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness, while exercising self-control.  

 

A prayer for you – Lord God, we praise you that Jesus came to die and rise again to give us a new heart. Because He lives, we no longer have to treat people with a fault-finding morally superior attitude anymore. Through Christ, we can be free. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Doomsday Scales of Goodness

“By God’s goodness, not ours,

can we be forgiven.”

How do you generally view yourself? A good person? I think most people would. We see that in autobiographies. They typically feature the good things people want to write about themselves. One wants to share their successes, not their failures. It is seen in obituaries too. At the end of life, they are usually written to cover the positive things about a person. (Photo from Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash)

How would you determine if you are good? Most likely you would do a scan over your life to find the good things you have done. Then afterwards, you would see if you found enough to call yourself good.

How does God determine this? Does He use the same method we would? If so, that would presume the existence of the “doomsday scales of goodness.” Meaning, after we die, we would be taken before God’s throne for our life to be examined. Next to Him would be sitting a large set of intimidating scales. Then after doing a thorough review of our life, He would place on one side, the good things we have done. Then on the other side, the bad we have done. All the while, we would be watching in fear and trembling. As God would place every good and bad thing we have done on the scales, it would tip one way, then the other. Back and forth it would go. Our eternal fate would be determined by the last thing He places on the scales. Would there be enough good to outweigh the bad?

Fortunately, there are no doomsday moral scales, so such a scenario would never happen. However, do we live as if there were?

Jesus had opponents to His message, who lived this way. They solely focused on the outward things of life, hoping in the end, it would be enough. They were Israel’s religious leaders who were careful to meticulously keep all their religion’s rules. After years of their continual attacks, Jesus publicly confronted them with the truth, “For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matthew 23:25-26)

These were tough words, but accurate. What was Jesus saying? The leaders were so focused on keeping their religious rules (the outside of the cup), that they neglected the condition of their heart (the inside of the cup). This revealed a dangerous misunderstanding. The leaders presumed their outward efforts would be enough. They assumed God would take to account all the good they have done, and it would be sufficient. They believed He would forgive all the bad things they had done, and overlook the condition of their heart, simply based on the amount of good they did.   

This reveals a common human problem. All of us tend to view ourselves this way. A Proverb says, “There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.” (Proverbs 30:12) And Jesus said, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.” (Luke 16:15)

God’s view of our lives is completely different. Before God we are unclean, dirty, sinful, having a lawless and wicked heart. There is no good in any of us. There is nothing we can do to forgive our sins. We are lost and without hope – but for Jesus.

This is why He came to die on a cross and rise again. Because there is no good in us, but there is in Him! He is the Perfect One! The Holy One! The Marvelous One! We cannot save ourselves because we are dirty inside. But Jesus, the Son of God, is without sin and can save us. By His goodness, not ours, can we be forgiven. Do not trust in yourself anymore, but trust fully in Christ alone.    

A prayer for you – Lord God, open our eyes to the true condition of our soul. Let us see that we are not good enough. Let us not be deceived, but acknowledge that only you can save us. You, the Sinless One, can deliver us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.