Being Happy

Question; if you had one month to live could you truly be happy with your life? Maybe you lost something along the way. Maybe you completely ruined your lives by the choices you made. Honestly, I think we get so caught up with what we have done in our lives that it’s not really as important as we make it out to be. It’s not about boasting about all the accomplishments you have done or your wall of degrees. We feel that we need to be this machine in order to be this sinless person. We live believing that by the works I have done, that is what’s going to get me into heaven. I notice a lot of people in my city that go to help feed the homeless, but they come in and they feed, and then go home. What is wrong with this picture? Jesus sat with the homeless; eat with them, fellowshipped with the homeless. We can’t truly understand or relate with what people have been through unless we get down to their level. I feel like if this is the way people are severing God than it is all wrong. If you are walking to the building where you’re going to feed, and your first thought is that you can’t wait to get home to your nice bed, than you are clearly going to serve for the wrong reasons. Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  How can we be truly happy if our priorities are all wrong? As Christians are job in this life is to fight for and to glorify the kingdom of heaven, it is to serve God. There are times in our lives were we feel that we are trapped and hopeless. It’s that feeling you get where nothing you do is ever right. Trust me I know all too well about this feeling. But we should never get to the point where we get so caught up in ourselves that we don’t care anymore. I am mentioning all of these things because if we are doing these things wrong than being truly happy will be impossible. Let’s say you were in a relationship and you did something throughout the year that the other person didn’t really know about, and now that you both are broken up you still haven’t said anything. I believe it in my heart that it is your responsibility to still tell them. Most of us would bottle it up and never say a word. This makes this guilt inside of us grow stronger. How will we ever be truly happy if we are always hiding things from the people we love? Something that has happened to me a couple of times is when in a relationship the other person would feel the need to hide things from me for months, why? They didn’t want to hurt me. But in all honesty they were hurting themselves by lying every single day. They are building this guilt inside themselves and its making it feel so much worse. James 1:14 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” So how do we get true happiness? From what I believe it’s nothing we can do ourselves. We can’t do something good, or help someone that needs help and get it. I mean there is a point in our lives that we are happy, but there will always be struggle and pain. It’s why we are here. We are here to learn and grow. Now we can be happy, but I don’t think we will be truly happy until we get to heaven. But the point of this post is to say if we aren’t taking responsibility for our actions, and we aren’t living our lives for serving God then how can we feel happy with our lives when the time of judgment comes. When I met my best friend of my life I believed that I was happy. I mean I was happy, but truly happy? I think my relationship with God had fallen apart, so my happiness wavered. The funny thing is that sometimes we meet someone and you date, and you think you are happy, but the Holy Spirit is trying to wake you up. I made the mistake of looking the other way when the Holy Spirit was working in me because I believed that I had true happiness. I am glad that this girl and I can still be friends. We may not be best friends anymore, but we are here for each other. I want to clear something up. I am not saying don’t be happy, and I am not saying to put yourself down because you do something wrong. I am just saying we do have the ability to do things for the right reasons and glorifying God while we do it. Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”