Monday, Feb. 1st, 2010

Bible Thoughts – “Happiness is…”

Recently I was having a conversation with a good friend and fellow brother in Christ, Mike Smith. I don’t remember the details of our conversation, but I remember his final words, “Happiness is a choice.” I like that very much. Our spirit, our attitude, the way we approach a day or even a lifetime is within ourselves to decide. Life is jam-packed full of highs and lows, blessings and disappointments. God made us with the power to choose how we will experience and affect those circumstances.

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 4: “But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned, but lacked opportunity. Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need” (10-12).

No servant of Christ in the kingdom has ever faced the disparity of rewards and trials that Paul faced. His circumstance could go from comforted among the church one day, to dodging stones hurled at him the next. And yet, it was his choice to rejoice in the Lord! Namely because he wasn’t just drifting along affected by circumstances, but because he was taking the Truth of Christ and the faith of holiness into every one of those settings and living for Jesus! What a great way to address the lows you face this week. They certainly represent tests, but not as measurements of how damaged you will be, but how valiantly you will choose to bring Christ into the situation!

Oh, one more thing about Paul’s words. Did you see that it was “the secret” that enabled him to choose happiness? What in the world is that secret? I sure want to know it. And here it is: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (13). Awesome. In a world of change and trial and uncertainty, Paul was able to be constantly rejoicing because he trusted in the ultimate constant: Christ. Jesus is always holy, always serving, always loving us… that is what He chose. And so we can face all things in Him if our faith is constant!

I want to leave you with a poem recently given to me by my good brother, Herb Lorfing. It was written by Rebecca Williams and since it served as the motivation for this article, I’d like to leave you with it:

One ship drives east, another drives west,

While the self-same breezes blow:

‘Tis the set of the sail, and not the gale

that bids them where to go.’

Like the winds of the seas are the ways of fate,

As we journey along through life;

‘Tis the set of the soul that decides the goal

and not the calm or the strife.’