Prodigal Magazine

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Most people, including Christians, are searching unsuccessfully for happiness. I see so many miserable Christians who have no qualms about making their misery evident and available to anyone who wants in. After all, misery loves company!

What about that attracts the unbeliever to Christ? Why would anyone want to follow Christ when all Christianity appears to offer is the same bowl of despair with ten scoops of commandments mixed in!

What we often fail to realize is that we are not guaranteed happiness here on earth. Jesus says, “in this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). But He finishes by saying, “take heart! I have overcome the world.” The phrase, take heart, means to have courage or be bold. In other words, stay the course and walk toward the “kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (Matt. 25:34).

“OK, fine,” you say. “I’m to be courageous and keep walking like a good little Veggie Tale! (see Josh & the Big Wall). But that doesn’t help me put a smile on my face and project non-misery to the secular world around me!”

You’re right. It doesn’t. You need to learn how to plug into the deep well of joy that is available to you right now and everyday you’re here. And here’s how: “consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

I’m sure this isn’t the first time you’ve heard or read this portion of scripture, but what does it really mean? Well…I’ll tell you! It means that joy is ongoing. It is a state of being contrary to happiness, which is temporary. Joy is based on a heart condition—a vertical perspective that focuses on God—and happiness is a circumstantial condition—a horizontal perspective that focuses on the things around us.

Most people look at these verses as a commandment: “life sucks, but be happy anyway,” is how I’ve heard them interpreted! However, that’s a million miles from what’s really written here. James has actually told us how to achieve joy by telling us how to achieve intimacy with God.

The Christian walk today is not so different from what it was when the New Testament was written, or even from what it was in the Old Testament. In fact, the things that happened to the Israelites are recorded as examples to help guide us in our own faith journeys. How did God’s chosen people respond to Him? When things were good (and they were happy), they ignored Him and turned to other gods. But when times were tough—and they were facing trials of many kinds—they turned to Him because they knew He could and would help them!

Unfortunately, this is how selfish we are! It has always been God’s desire to have an intimate relationship with us, but we manage to find so many other things to occupy our thoughts, our energy, and our time. We need trials to keep us coming to Him. If you’re never hungry, you won’t eat, right?

So that’s step one…coming to the throne when we’re in need. This develops perseverance, which means cheerful and hopeful endurance. But perseverance must finish its work, making us mature and complete, which simply means getting us to become proactive rather than reactive. In other words, through the reactive nature of our relationship with God, we’ll grow to the point where we realize that staying near to God, and developing intimacy with Him through good times and bad, is the only real place we find what we’re looking for: joy!

It is this place—this state of being—that will reach out to the secular world and attract others to Christ. It is the natural result of plugging into joy! So just do it! (This blog is not sponsored by Nike!)