Skip to main content

"God doesn't want us to be happy because God wants us to be blessed."

A thought by Craig Groeschel, from his book, The Christian Atheist: When You Believe in God But Live as if He Doesn’t Exist (p. 171). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

But I thought that God wanted me to be happy?

Craig said, “The Greek word makarios in Matthew chapter 5, also known as the Beatitudes, can be translated as ‘supremely blessed.’ In other words, God wants us to be more than happy. The happiness of this world is based on fickle happenings, but the blessings of God transcend the things this world offers. Scripture says in Psalm 112: 1, ‘Blessed is the [one] who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands.’ Another way of looking at it: ‘More than happy is the one who fears the Lord.’ The Bible never says, ‘Blessed is the one who does something wrong in the pursuit of happiness,’ or, ‘More than happy is the one who settles for cheap, worldly imitations.”

Later he says, “Max Lucado told a story about a fish in his book When God Whispers Your Name. My version is slightly different. Let’s start with a question: do you think a fish would be happy on a sandy beach? (If you have to ask a fifth grader, I’m worried about you.) The obvious answer is, of course not. The fish’s little gills would be slapping in and out like hands clapping, his body flopping end to end like a crazed acrobat.

“Imagine we give our fish friend $ 100,000 in cold, hard, tax-free cash. Do you think Fishy would be happy now? Can you picture him still flapping and flopping? Suppose we give him a cold Corona and a Playfish magazine. Again, Fishy would not be happy. No matter what we give the fish on the beach, it won’t satisfy him. There’s nothing that could make that fish happy on the beach— because he isn’t made for the beach. The sand is not his home. Anything apart from water will leave him wanting for the place for which he was created.

“The same is true of us. We are not happy with the things of this world because we’re not made for this world! We are strangers, aliens, foreigners on earth. We are made to dwell forever with our Lord in heaven. (See Phil. 3: 20.) We will never discover lasting happiness in the temporary things of this world because we weren’t made to live a temporary life. That’s why we should lower our expectations of this place. Earth is not heaven. It was never meant to be. That’s why no amount of money, new house, new living-room furniture, new kitchen appliances, new clothes, new hair, new baby, new vacation, new job, new income, new husband, or new anything will ever satisfy us, because we were not made for the things of this world.”

He then says, “As Psalm 97: 12 says, ‘May all who are godly be happy in the Lord and praise his holy name!’ (NLT). Real happiness is found only in the Lord, and when we find it we’ll understand, perhaps for the first time, how blessed we really are.”

So, don’t you think it would be better to quit looking for happiness and start living for God’s blessing?


Yes, yes!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Hurry and love are incompatible.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 23). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Wow, pretty strong thought isn’t it? John says, “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love. If you don’t believe me, next time you’re trying to get your type B wife and three young, easily distracted children out of the house and you’re running late (a subject on which I have a wealth of experience), just pay attention to how you relate to them. Does it look and feel like love? Or is it far more in the vein of agitation, anger, a biting comment, a rough glare? Hurry and love are oil and water: they simply do not mix.” He goes on, “Hence, in the apostle P...
Post a Comment
Read more

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more