April 29 – Happiness Comes From…
2:119 – Happiness Comes From…

#faithbites #faithjourney happiness

Today was one of those days where I have been reflecting on life. I see jobs people do and think that might make me happy. Or pictures of trips and skills people have and think I could do that. All of these point to not being happy or content with where I am at and looking for happiness elsewhere.

When I got home, I was reading my Discover Magazine (March 2019) a story called the Why Natural Selection Means We’ll Never Be Happy. The jist of the story is that if we are happy we stop striving for more. If we didn’t strive for more we wouldn’t have had food and reproductive opportunities in the past. The article discussed an experiment where they measured blood level (immune systems) of happy people and less happy people along with earnings of people who were happy and not as happy. In a nutshell it says we can’t ever be happy all the time or we would die out. I was wondering of the happy successful people, how many of them believed and followed Christ? For we know that true happiness is in eternal salvation.

The funny thing is, before I read this article, as I was mentioning above, I be been looking for success and happiness elsewhere.

All we need to do is focus on Jesus for that happiness.

Scripture
  • To the person who pleases Him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind..- Ecclesiastes 2:26
  • Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.Psalm 37:4
  • May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.Romans 15:13
Reflection

In our verses, we see true happiness comes not from earthly things but from Jesus. The Ecclesiastes verse emphasizes the point. Followers of God will respond to eternal wealth. This on Earth, who don’t believe, will get earthly wealth but then hand over eternal salvation to the believers

When we live our daily lives, we covet what others have and strive to better ourselves. Bettering ourselves isn’t bad if we are doing it for the right reasons. If it’s for personal gain, then we are hoarding and coveting. If we stop and focus on Christ, we sill see that many of those feelings of inadequacy go away.

Charge

We are human and want to do more, be more, and help more. We need to think about our motivation when we are doing more. What is your motivation? Really think about this question. If it’s for Christ, your path will be made clear and obstacles removed. When it’s for personal gain it is much harder. Challenge yourself to examine each of your goals against this standard. Am I helping the Lord or myself?

Prayer

Almighty Lord, help is to keep our eyes on you. No matter what we try to do, remind us that the reason has to be you and your word. You will guide us, protect us, and help us in our feelings of inadequacy. Led us on our quest to find happiness in all things we do when we follow you. In your name, Amen.

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