The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.
- Benjamin Franklin
The most sought after word in all the world may also be among the most elusive. Interestingly, billions go a lifetime with only a vague notion of what we all spend nearly every waking moment seeking.
Almost everyone can think of a dozen things that would make them happy, yet few take the time to fully grasp the nature of this universally sought state of mind and/or heart. Many philosophers and theologians have given it a go, yet one wonders if there's more to lasting happiness than meets the eye.
Many sources have noted the etymology and definition of the word happiness. A derivative from a root primarily associated with external circumstances (happening, happenstance) some, particularly among the religious, have discarded happiness as an improper and/or unachievable goal.
In Christianity, the idea of happiness has been replaced by joy and/or blessedness. While these are steps forward, such redefinition's are largely exercises in semantics. In actuality, all humanity is looking for a lasting state of enjoyment, satisfaction and peace.
While to a person the entire human race continually pursues happiness, few have personalized it's meaning. The following are some general observations on the topic:
- Universally sought by mankind while inadequately defined.
- Few claim to possess it. Overwhelming evidence supports this assertion.
- Many feel they have had and lost it.
- Diversions and entertainment are tools employed in it's pursuit. Including over eating and drinking. The billions of hours indulging in and trillions of dollars spent producing TV, movies, music, sports etc... speaks for itself.
- Frequently an altered state is sought while searching for happiness. This would include drug and alcohol use (and abuse), sexuality and extreme sports.
Clearly circumstances can either enhance or challenge feelings of physical and/or emotional wellbeing. Yet billions fortunate enough to enjoy the comforts of modern life, as if having received the answers to the prayers of all past generations, often are so unhappy as to take umbrage with God. Even in the midst of living lifestyles that in many ways rival those of mythological gods, levels of entitlement and Meism rather than gratitude and thankfulness are on the rise.
The study of happiness is basically divided into two principal components, our outward situation and circumstance and our inward thoughts and feelings. While bookshelves and webpages abound addressing both aspects, Biblical Christianity offers levels of understanding often missed by even it's most diligent students and supporters. For example, few are fully aware of the unfolding heavenly drama in which humanity finds itself, much less appreciate the degree the history of eternity has and continues to shape mankind's. In the face of scores of verses directly and indirectly addressing Satan and his minions, belief in the Biblical concept of an Evil One is largely relegated to myth and legend. In fact, with the very notion of sin all but passé, waining calls for genuine personal and corporate repentance fall on increasingly deaf ears.
Competing Wisdoms
The effect of such considerations on the mental and emotional, spiritual and even physical health of individuals and societies are well documented throughout Scripture. Particularly insightful is a small overlooked passage of the New Testament Book of James written by Jesus's half brother explaining that how we think and feel are to a great extent determined by one of two world views:
- "Do you want to be counted wise, to build a reputation for wisdom? Here’s what you do: Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It’s the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts. Mean-spirited ambition isn’t wisdom. Boasting that you are wise isn’t wisdom. Twisting the truth to make yourselves sound wise isn’t wisdom. It’s the furthest thing from wisdom—it’s animal cunning, devilish conniving. Whenever you’re trying to look better than others or get the better of others, things fall apart and everyone ends up at the others’ throats. Real wisdom, God’s wisdom, begins with a holy life and is characterized by getting along with others. It is gentle and reasonable, overflowing with mercy and blessings, not hot one day and cold the next, not two-faced. You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other, treating each other with dignity and honor." James 3:13-18 The Message
The Apostle Paul also has much to say regarding these two wisdoms:
- "The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written, 'I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots'. So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation." 1 Corinthians 1:18-21 The Message
- "Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness." Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"?" 1 Corinthians 1:25-31 The Message
- "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." James 1:2-4 The Message
- "If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open." James 1:5-8 The Message
- "That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do." James1:7-8 NIV
Such themes are a common thread throughout Scripture found everywhere from Christ's teaching on salvation in the story of the Good Samaritan to the Apostle Peter's vital additions to faith. Nevertheless, the idea of the joys of selflessness may look good on paper but finding happiness by emptying ourselves in the service of God and/or others often engenders feelings of anything but. Even so, wealth and possessions, pleasures and diversions, sexuality and drugs... all produce degrees of happiness, yet these are necessarily limited in intensity and duration. They temporarily fill a void. The problem is we leak. Gone too soon is the happiness we hoped to enjoy, often leaving behind increased cravings. Then of course is the little issue of facing the judgment of eternity.
Blessed = Filled
Jesus' choice of "blessed" best translated "filled" in the Be-attitudes, speak volumes in regards to Scriptural insight into the human nature and our pursuit of happiness. Most equate love with happiness and each of the four kinds of love can certainly be "filling" in its own way. Being "In love" may be a misnomer better rendered, having "eros" (romantic love) fill or be "in us." Many feel happiness when experiencing the splendor beauty. From a mountain sunrise to ocean sunset, a baby's smile to a lovers form, we feel a sense of fullness in the moment. What few realize is that beauty, along with truth and goodness, comprise the trinity of glory.
Christianity counsels an approach based on the Creator and Savior's intimate and absolute understanding of the human condition and circumstance. What God knows is that mankind was created to be the repository of Divine glory, thus all our attempts at transitory happiness must fall short of not only God's expectation but our own. Even wise and obedient believers groan inwardly, along with creation itself, waiting for the fulfillment of the promised redemption:
- "That's why I don't think there's any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what's coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens. All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it's not only around us; it's within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We're also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy." Romans 8:18-25 The Message
- "Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good." Romans 8:26-28 The Message
- "But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely." Galatians 5:22-23 The Message
In point of fact Scripture's main problem with human entitlement and selfishness, lust and sin is by nature they are too little and transient to satisfy. All the more so in comparison to the lost glory originally offered by God, an offer exponentially increased and reintroduced by the costly atonement of Christ:
- "By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God." Hebrews 11:8-10 The Message
- "By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff." Hebrews 11:24-25 The Message
- "Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity." 1 John 2:15-17 The Message
The thoughtful student of Scripture quickly notices that while God has every right to demand anything and everything from His creation, the Bible's directives are designed with mankind's good in mind. Unfortunately, we don't exist in a vacuum, but rather adrift in a "Waterworld" of temptation and deception from above and about continually inciting sin within.
Another complication arises from the Bible's Divine exchange rate. While the blessing of God, much less the costly atonement of Christ, come with a price tag too high for any human to pay they're only free in the quantum sense that fallen mankind could never merit or appropriate them on our own. In numerous passages, including the parables of Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Price, Jesus explains God's gracious exchange rate is our all for Omnity's. Again, this sound too good to be true yet in actuality the vast majority of modern Christians apparently feel just the opposite. Unable to quote five or ten verses in a row outside of the Lord's prayer or Psalm 23, most believers take less than five minutes a day to stop and pray. Clearly not the kind of behavior of those willing to invest all we have even for the "promise" of more than all we could ever want or imagine.
What appears clear is that for billions, the happiness we crave is seldom the happiness we have. Furthermore, the Bible offers a prescription for happiness not based on earthy standards so that even the poor might attain it, yet too few seem to. Again James explains:
- "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business." James 1:9-11 NIV
- "Looking at his disciples, he said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.'" Luke 6:20-25 NIV
Seeing Is Receiving
Here then at last are the horns of our dilemma. Worldly happiness is fickle and fleeting while Divine happiness feels distant and out of reach. So what's to be done? Is there an answer to the aching need for human happiness? In a word, yes, and that word is "sight." Heavenly wisdom appears convoluted when viewed from an earthly perspective. Thankfully Scripture offers a better vantage point, as seen in the following passage through two popular versions:
- "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4 NIV
- "So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ." Colossians 3:1-4 The Message
- "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power." 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 NIV
- "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power." 1 Corinthians 4:20 NIV
- "Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 The Message
- "I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it." Philippians 3:10-11 The Message
- "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." 2 Timothy 1:6-7 NIV
1. Scriptures are untrustworthy: While there are many reasons to believe in the authenticity and authority of the Bible as a whole, certain subjects may have been overemphasized for literary effect.
2. Scriptures are discriminatory: Even though the Bible declares God "shows no partiality" this doesn't mean that the experience of the great 1st century apostles are available for common 21st century believers.
3. Scriptures are too demanding: All this talk about crosses and self denial is fine for Sunday but life's too difficult and short to take it seriously.
All three of the previous arguments have some merit. Yet with mankind's temporal and eternal well being at stake, they deserve serious thought. Thankfully there is mounting evidence that faith is in fact reasonable. It's inclusive language also makes it clear that the principals introduced by Biblical authors such as Jesus, James and Paul are meant to be implemented by Christians down through the centuries.
As for the difficult demands of certain Biblical passages, difficult need not mean unachievable. Hudson Taylor, the 19th century Christian missionary credited with opening China to the gospel noted: "I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."
Consider the Apostle Paul. Previously called Saul, this pharisee among pharisees was present at the stoning of Stephen agreeing with the murderers of the first recorded Christian martyr. Blinded by misguided zeal, Saul and the crowd were unable to perceive the Kingdom of God in their midst, even as heaven opened to Stephen and his words tore at their hardened hearts.
Later, on his way to Damascus to extend his persecution of the Church, Saul was literally knocked off his high horse by the glory of the resurrected Christ. Only when blinded by his folly, like Samson of old, did Saul who would become Paul begin to see. Under the hands of Ananias, scales fell from Paul's physical and spiritual eyes. Over the next few decades Paul would become the preeminent prisoner and soldier of Christ enduring over 195 lashes and wounds inflicted upon him by the jewish brothers he loved more than eternal life itself.
Question: How was the first great inquisitor transformed into the a walking scar on behalf of the very faith and faithful he once sought to rid from the earth? Answer: He could not un-see what he had seen nor un-receive what he had received:
- "What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world." Acts 26:19 The Message
- "...and he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don’t deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God’s church right out of existence. But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I’m not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven’t I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn’t amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it." 1 Corinthians 5:8-11 The Message
- "How thankful I am to Christ Jesus our Lord for choosing me as one of his messengers, and giving me the strength to be faithful to him, even though I used to scoff at the name of Christ. I hunted down his people, harming them in every way I could. But God had mercy on me because I didn’t know what I was doing, for I didn’t know Christ at that time. Oh, how kind our Lord was, for he showed me how to trust him and become full of the love of Christ Jesus. How true it is, and how I long that everyone should know it, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—and I was the greatest of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as an example to show everyone how patient he is with even the worst sinners, so that others will realize that they, too, can have everlasting life." 1 Tim 1:12-16 LB
While few of us hope for Paul's life of hardship there is no denying the apostle's remarkable ministry was earmarked with overflowing joy. Surely a man capable of praising open iron shackles and prison doors at midnight had found the key to heavenly happiness.
Understanding the role of spiritual insight is essential in knowing God's will and receiving the the kind of grace described and modeled by Paul. If we ever hope to recapture the hearts and minds of a world besieged by unprecedented levels of doubt, a world heading headlong into a collusion course with judgment and the global woes of the Great Tribulation we must seek and receive the power of the Holy Spirit to fearlessly preach and more importantly miraculously demonstrate the claims of Scripture.
Which Story
We all want to be happy. Those who aren’t want to believe they soon will be. Those who are want to believe it will always last. To this end, the whole of mankind pursues a kind of waking dream. When circumstances are favorable, it’s easy to relax and enjoy life. When conditions are challenging, happiness is more difficult to imagine.
For this and other reasons, we each develop an inner monologue. A running account of not only our present, but past and anticipated future. Drawing from experience, we craft an image of ourselves. A tale of our relationships and place in the world.
Psychologists, and philosophers, cosmologists and even theoretical physicists have posited we are all part of and/or telling ourselves a story. With thousands of thoughts to sort through daily, this is hardly surprising. We need a way of organizing and dealing with our perceptions and emotions, attitudes and actions. As well as those of others. We also need to make sense of the precarious and fleeting nature of our mortal existence. Billions seek solace in religion. The wisest of these turn to the God of the Bible, thus raising two important questions:
1. With so many competing narratives vying for our attention, is there evidence the Bible’s authoritative?
2. How similar is our story to that of Scripture?
We’re born knowing bupkis. In time, via our senses and situation, once clean slates begin to fill with information demanding interpretation. As more stimuli is stored, by necessity its assimilation and consideration produces an individual’s sense of self or plot. Over time, interaction with the cares of life and the storylines of others augment and amend our own.
This has never been more true than today. Life within developed nations is not only overflowing with input, but trillions of dollars are spent to manipulate mankind as a marketable audience. Sadly, many of modern media’s most lucrative works are heavily laced with immorality and worse. Synergized by the 1960’s sexual revolution, such a strategy has revised the internal and external dramas of billions. In a single generation all but dissolving traditional bonds of family and friends. Too often in favor of the original sin of entitlement and Me-ism.
While the Bible is by far the all time best seller, an ever growing segment of the population has lost interest. Even among the rank and file of modern Christianity, a shrinking percentage can recall, much less accurately interpret, large portions of Scripture. Such Biblical illiteracy, combined with a plague of prayerlessness, creates a vacuum both being filled and enlarged with the concerns and diversions, temptations and deceptions of modern Life.
While this trend is understandable, the net effect has been a secularization of Christianity into Churchianity. This, in turn, has created a many headed hydra of religious belief, with various forms of the gospel and many Christs all claiming to have the true story. In the fading light, opportunistic darkness has left humanity groping and guessing. Synergistic, shadowy sins multiply, staining the plots of our personal and collective chronicles. Even as “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” so billions have developed a sweet tooth for high carb drama. All but loosing the taste for the solid meat of truth.
The situation is further complicated given that God’s narrative is at odds with worldly wisdom:
- “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 New International Version
- “But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 Amplified Bible
- “You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love? But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).” James 4:4-6 Amplified Bible
See GB's complete article: Which Story?
In the end, each of us is responsible for defining happiness in light of reality. That is to say, in light of that which is most, even eternally real. With that in mind, consider these levels of both concrete and abstract reality, which at times blend together:
- Physical/Physics: Life on planet Earth. Hard and pliable boundaries limiting our exercise of free will. Various physical and sociological realities that may assist or resist our attempts at happiness and well being.
- Hierarchy of Needs: Physiological, safety and security...
- Pursuit of Happiness: Primary concern once physical needs are met. Efforts that may prove advantageous or detrimental, temporally and/or eternally.
- Place in this World: Physical and self identification in society. Individual and corporate perspectives. Intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences. Relationships and career. People groups and communities. Regions and politics.
- Family and Relationships: Developmental nature and nurture from cradle to grave. Circumstances at birth and throughout childhood. Choices and options during teen and young adulthood, middle and old age.
- Existential Quest for Meaning: Desire for more than is immediately at hand or meets the eye. Individual and collective stories we tell ourselves.
- Religious Spirituality: Formation of perception and world view. Research of religious options. Development of spiritual discernment or lack thereof. Judging the accuracy of our subjective perceptions in light of trustworthy revelation. Nearness of our narratives to that of God's authentic world.
- Advancement: Attempts at bettering our condition and experience. Choices between worldly pleasures and success vs. spiritual insight and productivity. "Wherever your treasure is, there will your heat be also."
- Hardships: Facing challenges and defeats. Often creating or exacerbating questions about and issues with God. Such as is God good and/or fair? What of His apparent silence and distance? Why allow suffering and loss, illness and disease, pain and death, to name a few.
- Mortality and Eternity: Levels of dealing with or denying the precarious and fleeting nature of our human life. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world [wealth, fame, success], but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
- Do what we have to.
- Do what we can.
- Do what we want to.
- Do what we are told.
- Do what we believe.
- Do what we hope.
- Try to accomplish more.
- Refine our efforts.
- Face success and failure.
- Define ourselves, others and God.
Biblical Bottom Line
If we are wise, which often we are not, we'll accept Scripture's insight that the secret to human happiness is filling our empty souls, not by amassing worldly pleasures, but by cultivating the miraculous fruit of the Spirit, "Love, joy, peace..." Each infinitely and eternally priceless. All derivatives of the Bible's offer to be "filled with all the fullness of God."
Thus increasing in godliness, rather than wealth, should be our primary pursuit. Particularly since the New Testament repeatedly warns that these two goals are not only at odds with each other but diametrically opposed. A point made by a myriad of passages, including the Rich Man and Lazarus (the only conversation between humans in eternity recorded in the Bible) and Rich Young Ruler (one of only two times Jesus is asked directly how to get to Heaven).
Along these lines, Paul admonished his spiritual son Timothy, and by extension all Christians, to "Take with me your share of hardship [passing through the difficulties which you are called to endure], like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service gets entangled in the [ordinary business] affairs of civilian life; [he avoids them] so that he may please the one who enlisted him to serve."
Jesus comments directly on the controversy in no uncertain terms:
1. "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [money, possessions, fame, status, or whatever is valued more than the Lord]." Most have heard of this passage, but can't quote it correctly. Only a tiny fraction have taken even ten minutes wrestling with its implications.
A primary reason is our having been taught to substitute presumption for faith. After all, if we're going to assume salvation because of simple belief (demons also believe) or saying a special prayer (warned against by Jesus), why not go all the way?
Revealing a fuller meaning of Christ's message is as easy as plugging words into Jesus' equation. First, let's summarize all that mammon might mean into a more common and expansive word like wealth. Next, just do the algebra. There are two options:
- "...he will either hate wealth and love God, or he will be devoted to wealth and despise God."
Or the converse:
- "...he will either hate God and love wealth, or he will be devoted to God and despise wealth."
The GodBlog article, "Prophetic Christians" addresses the glaring need for believers today to more fully embrace the rigors of radial discipleship. Such men and women are serious Bible students and intercessors, believers who seek God in faith confident that He's said what He means and means what He's said. They're persuaded "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Possessed of deep and abiding repentance, they labor for revival in the hope and fear of God.
Understanding both the love and terror of the Lord, they endeavor to "persuade men" to choose eternal life rather than death. Knowing they too are sinners, they treat others as they would be treated: firm, fair, factual and friendly. They compel the lost, including apathetic and disobedient Christians within Churchianity, to come into the Kingdom by first speaking the truth in love. Should compassion fail, they spend themselves and their lives trying to pull lost humanity from "the fire."
By growth in spiritual sensitivity practice, Prophetic Christians learn to differentiate a seemingly subtle difference between Scripture's use of the term "godly man" vs. "man of God."
Lot and Abraham provide the clearest lesson. Thoughtful consideration of the horrendous account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah yields several insights. Among them is the fact that Abraham was so correctly tuned into four necessary issues: who, where and when he was, as well as to what God was doing, that while living safely outside the impact zone, God confided in him rather than Lot. Abraham’s wholly dedicated lifestyle afforded him uniquely intimate intercession. Furthermore, as a man of God, Abraham and his family were repeatedly afforded a kind of protection that Lot’s was not.
As Peter notes in the New Testament, being a godly man saved Lot's physical existence. Yet in nearly every other aspect his life was effectively destroyed. His wife was turned into a pillar of salt. His sons-in-law, friends and those he had ministered to in Sodom were burned alive. Perhaps second only to Noah's flood, Lot became humanities greatest reminder of judgment against sin. Lot’s daughters, fearing barrenness, would get him drunk and become pregnant by incest. Unlike Abraham, Lot's legacy would for all practical purposes disappear from the Scriptural record, only to resurface as the heathen nations of Moab and Ammon. Both continual thorns in the flesh of God's people Israel.
The final list below represents seven simple yet all but miraculous steps in learning to Walk In The Spirit. Becoming spiritually disciplined enough to keep our WITS about us, while seeking happiness through a soldiers joy, recognizing we are all living in a cosmic war zone.
- Accurately understand God’s Word: Discerning spiritual truth from God's written and spoken word. Learning to know Who and Where we are.
- Compellingly communicate the Times and Seasons: Knowing When we are and what God is doing. Caring enough to develop skills in hope of engaging others in thought and conversation, prayer and sanctification.
- Clearly hear the Lord’s voice: Growth in the ability to speak Holy Spirit, by honestly and humbly studying Scripture and being studied by it. As well as practicing and developing spiritual sensitivity. Responding appropriately to all the above.
- Recover the miraculous Fruit and Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Entering into the long avoided crucible of James 4's Prayer of Anguish, in hopes of exiting with James 5's spiritual power. Particularly by regaining the gift of healing the sick and signs and wonders, trademarks of Biblical Christianity and the Kingdom's Children's bread.
- Be “filled with all the fullness of God”: Increasingly entering God's Rest while transforming into an entirely New Creation. The very purpose and principal mandate of Biblical Christianity.
- Daily impart and demonstrate all the above: For the sake of family and friends, neighbors and even enemies, often harassed and enslaved by temptation and deception, entitlement and sin. All the more as the times and seasons quickly deteriorate and "you see the Day approaching." Understanding Earth is a besieged planet, investing our time, talent and treasure wresting humanity from the grip of Heaven's angelic rebellion. An insurrection that, having marred the history of eternity, has and continues to reshape our own. Through Bible study and strategic prayer, radical discipleship and disciplined sacrifice, donning the full the armor of God. Understanding we "wrestle not with flesh and blood" when struggling to rescue others from Satan's wisdom and demonic resistance, who as "the god of this world" holds mankind "captive to do his will." Inside and outside of modern Churchianity.
- RTDMN others to do the same: Recruiting, Training, Deploying, Monitoring and Nurturing an army of Kingdom citizen soldiers to fight our way through hell to Heaven!
- "Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it." 2 Corinthians 3:5 MSG
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