Thought for the Month - May 2003

Happiness or Hopelessness? - By Barry Adair

Happiness is to know the Saviour, living a life within His favour,
Taking a trip that leads to heaven, happiness is the Lord.
Real joy is mine, no matter when the tear drops start.
I’ve found the secret, it’s Jesus in my heart.

In the Bible, all the beatitudes encourage happiness, and yet so often we look miserable and sad. C H Spurgeon was teaching a class of students on the importance of expression, he said, "When you are speaking about heaven, smile, let the joy be seen in your face, when you are speaking about hell, your normal face will do just fine!"

Someone has said, "Happiness is found in having something to do, someone to love and something to hope for".

If we are saved, redeemed children, then we have all three:

Something to do

Mark 16:15 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"

Someone to love

1 John 4:19 "We love him, because He first loved us"

Something to hope for

Titus 2:13 "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"

And if you are not on your way to Heaven through Christ’s atoning death on the cross - then your happiness is almost certainly based on a mix of Prosperity, Popularity and Pleasure.

One man who had all of these and more was the rich farmer spoken of in Luke 12. What did the Lord say about this rich farmer?

Luke 12:20 "But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?"

Some day we all have to meet our Creator and give an account for what we have done in this life. 

True happiness is only to be found in a close relationship with our Creator God. I mean, He made us and He made us to be in close fellowship with Him. We were designed with that close relationship in mind and we will only ever be truly happy once we experience it. And this is all available through Jesus and His sacrificial death on Calvary’s cross.

Psalm 32:1-2 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. [2] Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought,
My sin not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Of course, this is not to say that Christians should never be sad. We suffer pain, anguish, loss, loneliness and heartache like everyone else. However, unlike everyone else, we have a Heavenly Father who really cares for us and will take us to be with Him in paradise when this scene of time is over!

Psalm 34:22 "The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate"

John 10:28-29 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. [29] My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand"

Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

Are you SURE that you have your place booked in Heaven? Read this if you're not!