Happy or Holy?

            What makes you happy?  Being with your friends?  Eating your favourite food?  Watching a good movie?  The theme of being happy dominates our society.  Do whatever you like, when you like, where you like!  If anyone gets in your way, then you can rain on that person’s parade for getting in your way.  How dare they stop you from being happy?  But, what about when God draws the line in the sand?

            There is a higher priority than being just being happy.  I like to be happy, I love it when my sports teams win and don’t like it when they lose, for example.  However, whether they win or lose, or whether I get to eat my favourite flavour of ice cream is irrelevant to God’s goals for my life.  This is where the proverbial ‘rub’ comes in life. Many people, including some who profess faith in Christ, stop living the way God wants them to live because He gets in the way of their good times.

            God’s priority is to develop our character to reflect His own.  He takes us from being self-centered people who are all about the good time and moulds us into people who are all about Him.  The apostle Paul talks about this in his first letter to the Corinthians. Specifically, he deals with that enculturated right that people had to make themselves happy by eating meat that had just been offered as a sacrifice to a pagan idol.  Just look at that meat, it is almost talking to us, “Eat me! I am delicious barbecued!” But Paul says that is something more important than enjoying a tasty steak.  The thing that was more important was that some people’s conscience would not allow them to eat that same meat. So if you put yourself first and not think about that person, you would actually be sinning against Christ! These younger Christians had not yet come to the place of a proper understanding that the idol was nothing and therefore they could be free to eat the meat.  Paul’s point was that their Christian lives were not about making themselves happy!

            This ‘right’ we think we have to be happy extends to the church as well.  People get upset in church because their type of music was not played, someone sat in their spot, and the preacher was too long or too personal or too boring, just to mention a few! Our consumer mentality to become happy seems to be unaffected by the fact that God calls us to be united in Christ, to serve one another, care for one another, and love one another.  Leaders have a hard time leading because people in the pew won’t allow them to use their spiritual gifts to their maximum potential.  Yes, at times leaders do lead to make themselves happy because of their drive for power and success.  But the majority of those whom God has called are people who seek to please God and honour Him!

            Happiness should be a by-product of living for God, not a central foundational experience.  Let’s not forget that the majority of the Disciples that Jesus called to serve Him and His people had their lives ended at the hands of those who sought to extinguish their message from the planet.  We in the Western world know very little about that kind of suffering.  But the one characteristic of each of those followers of Christ who gave up their lives for their Lord was joy!  Joy is the state of being content with life and with what God has given. Paul said, “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.”

            There is joy in serving Jesus, a joy that no happy, fleeting circumstance could ever match!

Godly Passion

It is that time again.  Once every 4 years, countries around the world will compete for the Jules Rimet Trophy, as it was known between 1930 to 1970.  Today it is called the FIFA World Cup Trophy.  People will be glued to their television sets, tuned into their radios and booking sick days off work in order to watch and listen to the games.  Our family had the privilege of living in one such country that is football crazy.  What an unbelievable experience that was!  We remember how life game to a screeching halt whenever our team played!  Even the church prayer meeting was postponed until the penalty kicks were concluded, nobody could concentrate on praying while the game was still undecided!  One word describes that kind of atmosphere – passion!

The Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples that they were to love the Lord God with all of their hearts, souls and minds.  In other words, they were not just to go through the motions of being religious. They were to be so wrapped up in living for God that He was to be their all and all.  He was to be their passion.  I find myself more times than not of only floating from one experience to the next in life without involving or thinking about the Lord. 

It seems that when we fall into these ruts in life that God has to sort of tap us on the shoulders and says, “Remember me?”  For that reason, the New Testament book of James says, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”  The trials that God brings into our life help us to keep our priorities right and keep our passion for Him burning strong. 

We human beings have a tendency to be full of self, and we like to begin to take credit where we see progress and success.  There have been many times after I have stepped down from preaching a sermon where I have accepted the credit and adulation of others.  Inevitably, the Lord steps in to remind me who really gets the credit and who really should receive the adulation.  We are His instruments that He has chosen to use in order for the glory to go to Him.   It is all about Him.  Whenever we think that God cannot get along without us, He reminds us in very tangible ways that it is we who cannot get along without Him! 

Passion in living for God does not mean that we will always be euphoric or energetic, but it does mean that we will be determined to see His hand in everything we do and in all that we are.  We will serve Him because He demonstrated His love for us and has called us to do those things that will encourage one another.  Passion for God is giving Him my all in all each day of my life.  It is a determination that He will be the first priority. 

Finally, to be passionate for God is to give back to Him what He has already given to us, namely and specifically, our lives. Whenever I get too far overflowed with me I am reminded of where God has taken me from.  Ephesians 2:1-10 helps me keep things in perspective, I am what I am by the grace of God.  I was once a sinner, full of self, full of ungodliness and disobedience to the Lord - but now - because of His grace, I am His workmanship in Christ Jesus created to do good works!   It's unbelievable! That fills me with passion for God!  I cannot remain how He found me, I must live to bring Him glory and honour today and every day!