The Real Secret of Happiness.
All our lives we thought that life should be fun. Although it is true that we serve a God who wants us to be happy, fun was never written on the Bible in the context of something that God wants us to have in life. In fact, Pastor David Assherick says that the word fun never occurred in the Bible, but the word joy occurs more than 200 times. This tells a lot about the difference between fun and joy.
According to thefreedictionary.com, the word fun means a source of amusement, or enjoyment. It’s how you behave or feel at one point of the day. Whereas, happiness or joy has a more profound meaning. Wikipedia tells us “Happiness is a state of mind or feeling characterized by contentment, love, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy.” Happiness is a state of mind. It’s the condition of your head when all the problems were tossed to you by life.
This brings to mind the story of Jesus and his disciples as they were traveling on a boat. A storm comes and the disciples panic, while Jesus was soundly sleeping under the boat. What happened next is one of the greatest manifestations of the power of God. The whole story is found in Mark 4:35-41. Jesus was soundly sleeping which tells a lot about his mindset during the storm. He was as calm as can be.
On the other hand, happiness seemed to be hard to find in our world today. Our generation demands a lot of things that tells us that we could be happy if we could do this and this. Some even struggle in knowing why they need happiness at all. (Read part 1 and part 2 of this series) Yet the ultimate question is how do we become truly happy? How do we maintain our happiness once we find it?
As our Makati Grow group tackled the study guide for the book “Steps to Christ” by E.G. White, each Monday for 13 consecutive Mondays, we found out a lot about how to be really happy and how to maintain that happiness. Here are some of the things that we discovered (quoted and italicized text are from the “Steps to Christ” Grow Group Study Guide unless otherwise quoted):
1. “Do not get into the habit of narrating your troubles to others.”
While it is true that fellowship with other people fosters spiritual growth and longevity among others, it would cause a great burden for others to listen to the grueling details of your struggle especially if it has become a habit. During the course of the discussion, it has been a unanimous reaction that in one way or another, a person gets affected by the problems of another person. It could bother them more especially if you placed the whole gory details before them.
“Do not tell your troubles to your fellow mortals, but carry everything to God in prayer. Make it a rule never to utter one word of doubt or discouragement. You can do much to brighten the life of others and strengthen their efforts, by words of hope and holy cheer.”
Should the burden be too great for you and the you are really urged to spill it out on someone, leave out the gory details and pray for it after. That way, the discouraging and troubling moment won’t rub off the person. Don’t make it a habit, as well.
2. “Follow the example of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 2:5 plainly states, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:” We should remember the story of Jesus calming the storm, He was sleeping but fully conscious that there was a storm. However, He had that trust in the Father that no matter how the storm tosses their boat aside, God would see them through.
Moreover, “our Savior was deeply serious and intensely earnest, but never gloomy or morose. The life of those who imitate Him will be full of earnest purpose; they will have a deep sense of personal responsibility. Levity will be repressed; there will be no boisterous merriment, no rude jesting…”
Let us therefore emulate the Christ way of tackling problems and conflicts.
3. “Dwell your mind upon the wondrous love of Christ not on the unkind and evil things done to you by others.”
Trusting on people is never a good idea. Most of them would disappoint you one way or another. Yet keeping tabs on those negative and disappointing things done to you by others would only depress you more.
“If we keep uppermost the unkind and unjust acts of others we shall find it impossible to love them as Christ has loved us; but if our thoughts dwell upon the wondrous love and pity of Christ for us, the same spirit will flow to others.”
As Christians, we should bear in mind that love should be the supreme thing emanating from us. We couldn’t do that on our own, our supply of love is very very limited. Thus we need to keep our head and heart linked up to the only source of love: Jesus Christ.
4. “Trust God.”
Finally, believe that God will see you through all your perplexing trials in life. This part could sometimes be the hardest part since our patience could only amount to so little. Yet, complete trust in God has never failed in all the years He has been leading people. What better way to link up to him than through prayer.
“You may be perplexed in business; your prospects may grow darker and darker, and you may be threatened with loss; but do not become discouraged; cast your care upon the God, and remain calm and cheerful. Pray for wisdom to manage your affairs with discretion, and thus prevent loss and disaster.”
If we could find ourselves following these four things, we could be sure that happiness is not far behind. Joy would last for our whole lifetime. What’s good about this is that it’s also contagious. Wouldn’t it be nice to see a world rejoicing in God? I wanted to see that, how about you?
thanks for the tips!
you’re very much welcome!!!