What makes You Happy...?
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! - Philippians 4:4
“If we do not enjoy now, at what age are we going to enjoy” is a popular statement among the youth. Is there any wrong in enjoying life? No… not at all. The Bible also teaches the same to us. But its very important to note what, how, why and how much do we enjoy. Moses, who lived in the Pharaoh’s palace, chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25). Why? King Solomon, who lived a life of comfort and pleasure and enjoyed this world completely, said “All is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1). But Apostle Paul who suffered numerous sufferings tells “Rejoice in the Lord always”. When it is said rejoice in the Lord, does it not tell us that there are or can be things outside the Lord that can give us enjoyment? Then there arises the question, can we not or should we not enjoy ourselves outside Christ? What is there in Christ and outside of Christ? In Christ, we have eternal life and outside Him we have the world and the flesh. Unfortunately, man, especially youth, enjoy in these two that are outside of Christ.
Only in Christ can we find life giving true joy, while those that we see outside are fake and temporary. When there is an original one, we will definitely have a duplicate for it too. Is our joy original or duplicate? When we enjoy something in Christ, we derive satisfaction, gratitude and joy, but to God it brings Honor and glory. Nothing in Christ will give us boredom. But the world and flesh will easily drive us to boredom. Flesh and blood shall not inherit heaven. Therefore anything we enjoy and be happy about during our earthly life that does not qualify to inherit or enter heaven is a fake life. We may tend to enjoy fake things and live a fake life too. Since we battle with our flesh and blood and enjoy in the things associated with them, we get entangled in problems. Not one of them who have become slaves today to drunkenness, adultery, gambling, video games etc, were born as slaves to these. Wrong extravagant behavior has pushed them into irreversible grief. Therefore, Jesus in Luke 10:20 taught his disciples on what and what not to rejoice in, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
Do not love the world and the things in it. Therefore it is best to love and rejoice in the heavenly things. A servant of God once said “Be rich but love God. Be content for yourself but generous to others, especially poor.” When we rejoice in fake things, the enjoyment is a fake one and besides this, when we continue to rejoice and give them importance, it brings in pride and arrogance regarding that in us. Examples include beauty, riches, position. Let us not rejoice and enjoy in perishables but in imperishable things. The only imperishable thing in this world is the Bible – the word of God in our hands. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. There is nothing wrong in us enjoying things in a way that brings honor and glory to the Lord. The things that give us joy should edify us and those who see us. Anything that does not edify us is dangerous. All that can give us joy will not make us holy. (Example dating and live-in relationships). But all those that make us holy will grant us immeasurable happiness. Hence friends, Always be happy, happy in the Lord. What do you want? The life in Him or the destruction outside Him? Let us think and act.