Thursday, February 23, 2012

..God wants me to be happy... really?

..heard that a few times in the last little while..."God wants us to be happy"..... where do people get that from??????
yes, the Bible is telling us about how much God loves us, how He blesses us, what He has for us, the life He has for us, a life He wants us to live abundantly... He gives us joy, peace, kindness, patience, gentleness... He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us..  He gives us hope, and a future, He is promising us that in the suffering He will be there, that the peace that passes all understanding will always be ours ... in persevering our characters will be refined, in the fire our faith will be proven genuine.. He says to pick up His cross daily, we are to bring glory to His name.. He gives us His rules and regulations to keep us save from hurting ourselves and everyone around us..
He definitely wants us to become more like Him, know Him, put others before our own needs..
where does it say He wants us to be happy????
I have not found it.. he wants what is best for us... in the long run, and in the long run it is about knowing Him more and more and to learn that we desperately depend on Him... that we NEED to rely on Him alone...
I think those that want to change some of the rules because He definitely can't mean this since He wants us to be happy, don't really trust Him..
driving this morning listening to Casting Crowns, I was once again overwhelmed that the fact that He has saved me when I didn't deserve it, should really make me "HAPPY" for the rest of my life... here and in Heaven with Him...
shouldn't born again followers of Christ, those that have a relationship with Him and have tasted the blessing of knowing Him intimately know better???
I know that it is easy to get caught up in all this... our world tells us we have a RIGHT to be happy... well.. again, is God saying this? I don't think so... we will have total bliss, no more tears and all the joy and happiness there is when we are with Him for eternity.. here on this earth He said we will have troubles.. but He has overcome the world... He said "Don't be surprised when you have to deal with suffering and heartache... with me you can continue to do right, serve me and be a good ambassador for me... I think the whole "God wants me to be happy thingi" is a little off.. holy, yes, joyful in all circumstances yes, but happy??? not so sure...