Because Your
lovingkindness is better than life, my
lips will praise You.
Psalm 63:3
What do you actually need to really be happy? Is it something you think
you are missing and absolutely need? Or is it something you have that you
simply cannot live without? Fill in the blank for what is truly needed
for happiness for you: a spouse, a family that is "doing well"
and loves you a lot, popularity, success at school, making a lot of money at
work, to look a particular way, or some earthly pleasure.
When we are honest with ourselves, these good things can be the very things that take God's place in our lives. Make no mistake; we are really glad that Jesus had paid for our sins. We believe in Him. The problem, however, is that we have an underdeveloped understanding of the gospel. Jesus is not a mere ticket into heaven or our entrance pass into whatever earthly pursuits we want. The Gospel of Jesus is the good news that by faith we are united eternally with Him who is Savior, Lord, and our Life.
The human heart has a habit of making idols out of everything - from what we have to what we want. We even can obsess over what we hate or what hurts. The byproducts of a misdirected heart are all too familiar, namely fear and anxiety. Stop! We must move from being passive to proactive, and point our souls back to Him who has created us and loves us. To fail to do so is to fall short of all we have in Christ.
God certainly gives us good things to enjoy in life (1 Tim. 6:17). But to enjoy the many good things He gives and to persevere, with grace, the difficulties we face, we must learn to daily find our joy in Christ (Phil. 3:1). I have found that ongoing thankfulness and prayerful dependence are life-giving means of finding my identity, security, peace and power in Christ alone - especially when my heart wants to try to enjoy or endure life apart from God. After all, even "good things" become "god things" when we lose our focus of Christ.
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