The highway to happiness

We all want to be happy, but few of us live in the reality that happiness or unhappiness is a byproduct of our heart's condition. As we live obedient to God's requirements, we know joy; then, as Charles Finney says, we stumble on happiness regularly in our path. Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians paints a highway you and I must travel if our desire is to know joy that will be the envy of our friends. In 2 Cor. 2:3b he says, Surely you all know that my joy comes from your being joyful (NLT). God designed us to live on His high octane fuel, joy. As we're filled up daily with His fuel, we know no knock (the problem new engines experience when they run on lower octane fuels). So how do we fill up on joy? The passage is clear, we must live for the joy of others. We understand this well from our feelings at Christmas time. Contrary to what we thought, the greatest Christmases we experienced were the ones we spent giving selflessly to others. There's a exclusive joy and happiness which is caught only by a giver. We were made to give not get; getting provides temporal gratification; but giving measureless joy. God help us fulfill our born design, to live like His Son, who lived to give, knowing the joy that would follow His giving, your salvation and mine (Hebrews 12:1).

God is love not shove

I grew up under the impression that the primary gene of God is His holiness. On studying Scripture and our place in God's program as the church; I'm not convinced. Yes, the angels in Isaiah 6 proclaim God a thrice holy God, yes, John shuttered at the brass feet of Christ, God of glory; but how do you want your children to remember you? As a distant dictator, one unapproachable, who always had it together or as one, who nurtured them well with empathy and compassionate care. The Bible is very clear in 1 John 1 that God is light, undimmed by darkness; but its portrait of God in 1 John 4 is love, not distance or shove. He desires to be near, not distant, for "He's not far from anyone of us," Acts 17. He is not cold and uninterested but near, mighty to save. Peter portrays Him as the Christ, who keeps us way beyond salvation with His delivering Hand. John 13 is crystal clear regarding how others are to know God, by our love for one another just as Christ showed us God by His demonstrating His love on Calvary's cross. He shared with us the Father's love dying for us enemies, without strength, and cursed by sin. Christ in a word is love. Your past need not keep you from His Hand of mercy; in Christ, you can be made new or restored today, for God is love.

Are all your friendships superficial or do you have close friends?

The love of Jesus is nothing short of boundless. When Christ condescended from heaven's portals to walk our mile; He came with one purpose, to show us the bond between Him and the Father so that we'd see our desperation apart from a personal relationship with God. Christ and the Father were one in their close union. How about you? Do you have a close friend? One you can bear your feelings to without fear of embarrassment, judgment, or betrayal. We drove our closest friends to LAX today. As we dropped them off we felt as if we lost them, though they're gone for just two weeks. I believe the reason we feel as we do is because they listen open-mindedly, there is nothing we can tell them which demeans their view and love of us, they share generously, there is nothing within reason you should withhold from those you love; but they hold to us closely, to be near those you love is to reveal who you really are and see parts of others that don't always rub you the right way. But, to be near the beauty and rust of others gives us a vision of how we want to be accepted and loved, simply for who we are. Genuine friendship provides an avenue to be yourself but Biblical friendship refines you as we are lovingly led to rid the rust in our lives, which makes us difficult to be around.