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| Picture yourself before God's throne, in the middle of a vast stadium, and on television, so everyone can see you when God tells you, "Well done. Enter into the joy of the Lord." that is not half as good as what you can have. | |||||||||||||||||||
| You can live right, fulfill your purpose, and be happy. | |||||||||||||||||||
| God, by the way, is not a killjoy. Jesus said, more than once in the Bible, "that your joy might be full." He wants us to have, "joy unspeakable and full of glory." (1 Peter 1:8) | |||||||||||||||||||
| WARNING: To live right and be happy is not for the uncommitted. It is not for the wishy-washy or those who lack courage. This is not for those who want to go through life unopposed. This is not for spiritual wimps. I had to fight some real battles with a real enemy (the devil) to put up this web site, and I had to ask God for His strength and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to follow through and do it. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Liars have said that Christianity is for weaklings and have called it a "crutch." That is only true if you choose to live an evil life. The Bible has some tough promises as well as some pleasant ones; it says in 2 Timothy 3:12, "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." This is not for the faint of heart. | |||||||||||||||||||
| God does not give us a crutch, He gives us full equipment for all good works.(2 Timothy 3:17) Calling Christianity a crutch is like saying, "Do you mean to tell me you want a hammer to drive those nails with?" |
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| Also, if you are a stupid person who will not be corrected, this is not for you. God gives us instructions to get wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. | |||||||||||||||||||
| It is true that you can begin this as a little child, or even a feeble-minded person, but fair warning: you cannot stay childish and immature and collect your full reward. | |||||||||||||||||||
| God created you to know Him, and to become like Jesus in the content of your character. He loves you. Your well-being is so important to the Father that He sent Jesus all the way to the cross for you. | |||||||||||||||||||
| People cannot be happy when they really hurt. | |||||||||||||||||||
| You can, however, minimize your pain now, in this life, and in eternity. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Your purpose is to glorify God, know Him, and become like Him. Because He loves you, you do not have to be alone, ever. Loneliness is painful. Because He loves you, you do not have to be hopeless, ever. Hopelessness is painful. These are part of minimizing pain, now. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Getting to know Jesus and following Him, becoming like Him, are also part of minimizing pain, now. Receiving Him as your Lord and Savior will minimize your pain for eternity. | |||||||||||||||||||
| On the other hand, being happy is not just about the absence of pain. Otherwise, only healthy people could be happy. God created you for his glory so that you can be happy. That is because no kind of sentient being, including human beings like you, angels in Heaven, or God Himself can be truly happy living a self-centered life of self-gratification. | |||||||||||||||||||
| If your goal is your own pleasure, or self-gratification, you have a problem. Life is not all about having fun. Neither is it about what you want. Self-gratification will not make you happy. Once you get it, it can get real old, real fast. Why do you think so many rock stars, etc. who are living for their own pleasures commit suicide or are strung out on dope, booze, or both? Getting noticed did not make them happy, either. Being famous did not make them happy. How famous? You might wonder. | |||||||||||||||||||
| According to Dogpile.com, the most popular searches for people are Anna Nichole Smith, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton. Other than the fact that all three of these are famous females, they each have a lot of sites that mention them, some 428 million altogether. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Yahoo.com yielded the following: Anna Nicole Smith (103,000,000 hits), Britney Spears (140,000,000 hits), and Paris Hilton (185,000,000 hits). Other than the fact that Britney Spears has her music and she sings well, I cannot see how any of these women have done anything to deserve so much attention. If you put in all three of their names at once, the number falls to 8,100,000. Anyone tired of hearing about them? | |||||||||||||||||||
| On the other hand I once heard, "Everyone can be made to serve a good purpose, if only as a bad example." Anna Nichole Smith's life does serve as an excellent example of a life devoted to self-indulgence, and the kind of end that it can come to. Because the cause of her death has not yet been released (March 12, 2007, 6:12 pm Mountain Daylight Time). I cannot yet comment upon that. All that can be said is, that it was a bad one, and her death was premature. When you add to all that the fights over her baby and her body, it all makes a rather sad and sordid story. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The conclusion, however, is basic: fame cannot make you happy, otherwise she would not have used so many drugs, etc. to numb out the pain in her life. Being numb is not being happy. Do the right things, and you will be living right and you will be happy. | |||||||||||||||||||
| On of those right things is to maximize praise, like the little boy at Christmas yelling, "Yahoo! Yippee!" | |||||||||||||||||||
| Living right and being happy are very intertwined. You cannot be truly happy without living right. You can live right, or almost right and not be very happy. Why settle for half a loaf, however? | |||||||||||||||||||
| You can live right, fulfill your purpose, and be happy. | |||||||||||||||||||
| God did not create you to kick you around, like some dirty tin can. He created you for His glory, like the best light in the house. He did not create you to obey a bunch of rules so that He could stand by, with a big club, to bash you with it when you mess up. He is not like that. | |||||||||||||||||||
| God is more like the very best coach and teacher you could ever find. He wants to bring out your very best and help you do everything right when it really counts, like He's helping me right now. He wants to cheer you on and let you know when you do well. He wants you to excel in every possible godly way. | |||||||||||||||||||
| That part about "godly" has to do with keeping you free of things that will hurt you. He wants to give you that pat on the back. He wants to tell you, "Well done!" He does not want to see you destroy yourself with bad attitudes, bad choices, or bad actions. He loves you. He does not want you to wind up like Anna Nicole Smith. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Like a good coach, He will correct you. He wants you at your best. | |||||||||||||||||||
| At the bottom of all of this, you have a relationship to God. An athlete has a relationship to his (or her) coach or trainer, or that is not his coach. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Your relationship to God may be one of unbelief, uncertainty, anger, ignorance, etc. You may think you have committed the unforgivable sin. Until, however, the final bell, the game is still on. Like Yogi Berra said, "It ain't over 'til its over." Unless you are actually, permanently dead, you still have a chance. Jesus went all the way to the cross and the grave just to give you that chance. |
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| Questions? (to continue, click here) | |||||||||||||||||||