Simply Happy

Yes, I am happy today. I am happy about the beautiful weather outside. I am happy about the fact that my husband is getting a holiday on Monday, so we get to enjoy a three-day weekend together. I am happy that my husband took me on a coffee date last night and that the Lord encouraged us both through conversation--reflecting over the things He has done for us in the past and anticipating things He will do in the future. I'm happy to know the Lord, to be able to talk with Him throughout the day, to know that He is good and merciful and in control of all things. 

Sometimes when I get like this, I wonder how long it will last. As they say, "What goes up must come down." But what a cynical way to view life! Shouldn't we be allowed to be simply happy sometimes? Aren't there things to be happy about? Shouldn't God's people be among the happiest? 

I have been reading for my Biblical counseling class recently about "simple pleasures" - the ability to enjoy things because we are created in the image of God, and He has given us many things to enjoy! However, as sin affects everything else in life, it also adversely affects our ability to take the right kinds of pleasure in the right kinds of things. Even the enjoyment of good things is tainted by sin when we let that pleasure drive us and become the chief desire of our hearts and lives. 

But, just as sin has corrupted all aspects of life, Jesus Christ is redeeming all aspects of the lives of those who belong to Him. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age" (Titus 2:11-12). 

So, we can be happy! We can live joyfully. We can enjoy the beauty of the world God has created. We can enjoy the comforts of the relationships He gives us. We can enjoy a cup of coffee or a dish of ice cream or an invigorating run or an enthralling book. We can enjoy those things as part of thankfully enjoying the Creator of all things. 

We, too, can exclaim, "Blessed [or happy] are the people to whom such blessings fall! Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!" (Psalm 144:15). 

Speaking with Faith

I find that when I am reading and thinking about the wonder and reality of God by myself, it can be very surreal. God, the things that are true about him, and my prayers to Him seem to be stuck inside my head. They do influence my life, but only because they are in my head. Christianity becomes an individualistic, intellectual construct inside of me.

This problem is compounded when the people of God around me don’t speak of Him at all or alternately joke or argue casually about points of theology. Even when they do speak about Him, either of Him working in them or of things about Him in general, my internalization may still remain. They are not actively confronting me with the God who is, but just indicating that they share the same intellectual construct.

What I need is for the real people of God (whom I can see and hear and feel) to speak truth specifically, personally, and in a way that is full of faith into my life. When they do that (as I have experienced before), the reality of God grows far too large to be contained inside of my head. I am forced to respond to and worship and serve the God who is outside of me and bigger than me.

If that is true when people speak to me, should I not then seek ways to speak to other people? I must seek to make God near to them, to help them see that He is not just inside of their minds, but He is living and active in the world. Every time I open my mouth, what I say and the way that I say it implies something about God to the people around me. Is He real? Is He near? Is He powerful? Does He care? Who around me needs to be reminded of this from outside of themselves? Where is God calling me to bring His truth specifically to those around me? As God helps me to know Him and uses His people in that process, so I ought to help others to know Him, that through us, God would build a community full of living, vibrant, dependent faith.

Will you join me honoring the Lord by speaking about Him to those around you in a way that demonstrates that He is alive and near?

A New Semester...

Today is the end of the second week of school. The semester, per usual, has started off with a flurry of events - social, work, and class events. This semester is different though - it's my last as a student. I won't have to go through the ordeal of getting books, or read another syllabus after this semester.

So what does that mean for me? What have I accomplished in my time here at K-State? Some would say that I've learned in my classes (which I don't always feel is the case), others would say I've made money in my work (which my bank account would argue with), and my contact list would show me that I've met many people. But what lasting effect is there? It's a question that takes some thought to answer, and I won't be able to answer it in one post...or ten.

The biggest difference in my life after 4 years of college is my spiritual life. I've grown so much since arriving, and that ultimately is by the grace of God. We hear a lot anymore about people falling away from the Church - youth going off to college and forsaking the Church completely. So why didn't that happen to me? What made me different? Many things, but there is one particular thing that has kept me sane: fellowship.

Fellowship is more than just friendship - it's an association built on a common identity found in Christ. That identity, my life as Christian, defines me. I am a sinner saved by grace through faith in Christ. When I'm with other people who share that identity, and we're seeking to encourage each other to live out that identity - that is fellowship.

So where have I found fellowship? In the Church. Not surprisingly, the best place to look for other people who are Christians is the Church. I don't mean church (notice the lowercase) in the sense of a particular congregation, but Church - the whole body of Christ. The Church doesn't have congregational boundaries - I've had some great fellowship with people who don't attend the same church that I do.

So, if you're going to call yourself a Christian, then you better be acting like one. Go to church  - it's not an option, it's who you are. If that doesn't jive with your thinking, then maybe we should talk.

Until next time,
Joel