PSALM 112:1 – “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!”
THEME OF THE DAY: THE HAPPY CHRISTIAN. It has a very inviting title because it reveals the longing of every human heart – happiness. The title of the book makes one a little cautious because it feels like one of those contemporary Christian self-help books advertising a quick way or method to happiness. Be careful of the majority of books being published called Christian. They are not Christian because they say so. Nor are they Christian because a few Bible verses appear on some pages. Be selective and discerning when it comes to books we read.
The book I am about to reveal is safe. It is biblically-sound, Christ-centered and exalting, and from a trusted author, David Murray. Its title is The Happy Christian: Ten Ways to Be a Joyful Believer in a Gloomy World. Here is a portion of the introduction to affirm the value of the book:
“What we think and believe about God, about ourselves, about others, about our problems, and about our world dictates and determines the quality of our whole lives: our happiness, our relationships, our creativity, our productivity, and even our physical health. That’s why I’ve written this book. I want you to have a positive faith and life. Or if you do already, I want you to have an even more positive faith because the more positive your faith is, the more positive your life will be. As Nehemiah said more than twenty-five hundred years go, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” You’re a bit cynical, aren’t you? Perhaps it doesn’t sound like anything you’ve experienced lately. It could be that you have too many negatives in your life to be positive. Or maybe you think “positive faith” or “happy Christian” sounds like a contradiction in terms. The positive symbol I’m referring to stands at the center of Christianity. It’s the cross of Jesus Christ, a symbol that graphically demonstrates how God can transform the most unimaginable negative into an almost inconceivable positive.”
In the cross of Christ, we find the recovery of what makes us happy. We identify them in today’s scripture – fearing God and obeying His commandments. These two elements of the Christian life are linked to the blessed life. As we know from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes, the word blessed means happy. And the Psalmist points to what truly makes us happy – walking in the reverential awe (fear) of God and a life of delightful obedience to God’s commands.
The fear of God is that healthy respect for God because we know Him, and in His fear, we grow in hating what He hates and loving what He loves. The happy Christian also takes great delight in obeying God’s commandments. Obedience is not only the way to happiness as a Christian, but an affirmation of assurance of being a Christian. Do we delight in God’s commandments? Do we long to obey them? Only Christians have such desires for God gives them to His people. They don’t come from us.
A further application of the happy Christian obeying God’s commands is the actual obeying itself. I know. This sounds obvious but it isn’t. Obedience is intentional. It happens on purpose and we may find ourselves easily just going through the mindless routines of life, void of deliberate obedience to specific commands. For example, Jesus commands, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Think about our lives this week. How did we obey that command in the lives of other believers? The happy Christian is the knowing AND doing Christian.
Yes, we are created for happiness. It comes from fearing and obeying God. May the Lord find us doing both and giving the world the true picture of a Christian happy in the Lord.
PRAYER: Father, I praise You for wiring me for happiness then providing it in Your Son, the Lord Jesus.
REFLECTION: God created us for happiness, but sin forfeits the true source of that happiness – God Himself.