Category: God

The Quest for Happiness

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. “ Psalm 1:2

Is true happiness attainable? The longer we live in this world, the more we are exposed to the harsh realities of life, leading many to a sense of utter desperation.  Still, others go beyond despair to a state of cynicism. Both perspectives ultimately hold the view that true happiness is beyond grasp in this world.

The Bible addresses these two impressions with the assertion that yes, life can be tragic, but these ways of thinking leave out the most important factor: God.  The Book of Psalms starts out with the words “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, enviable) is the man who…”.  Therefore, it is possible for a person to attain happiness.

The first psalm shows the way.  It starts by laying out the things one must avoid.  What are these things?

First, do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.  If you want to be happy, the first thing you must do is to stop listening to the outlook of the world: that which disregards and excludes God, the view that is opposed to God.  The counsel of the ungodly solicits the trust in one’s own knowledge and understanding. The word “ungodly” as translated implies a sense of restlessness; they must be restless because their knowledge is man’s knowledge, and therefore contingent and transitory.  Consider science theories decades ago that have now been discarded and replaced; consider the changing whims of fashion: what is fashionable today may be considered ludicrous in a few years.

Second, do not stand in the way of sinners.  This admonition requires little explanation.  If you want to be happy, you must avoid the way of the world, the way of the sinner, the way he only lives to satisfy the flesh.  This will never bring true happiness.

Third, do not sit in the seat of the scorners. These are people who hold everything that is holy in derision, people who laugh at God and religion and the sanctities of life, people who scoff at morality and decency.

The retrogression from walking, standing and sitting is clear in this first verse and illustrates the increasing grip of sin upon the soul.  Another aspect of this is how it causes the finest things in a person to degenerate to a state of immobility,  accomplishing  and affecting nothing, just sitting and muttering out their own conceived cleverness. Scoffers and scorners are so far removed from happiness, with no hope, paralyzed by evil and sin.

The other side of the prescription for happiness is a positive instruction.  Here is the secret of true happiness: it is that a man or woman ‘delights in the law of the Lord’, not in the wisdom of philosophers and thinkers, not in following the ungodly, but in the law of the Lord — the Bible.  Here is everything we need, God’s way to happiness.  But notice that those who are blessed delight in God’s law; they do not simply have an intellectual interest in it, or a religious compulsion to do so, but they have great pleasure in knowing it.

What makes a person delight in God’s Word?  We cannot attain this ourselves; it is a process wherein God takes the first step in showing the way to true happiness.  Amidst the tragedies of life, the desperation, the evil in this sinful world, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to bear the punishment for our sins, reconciling us to God, and making us heirs to eternal bliss. Our part is to acknowledge our sins and put our faith in Jesus, believe that He has paid the price for us.  Once we believe and make Jesus the Lord of our lives, we become a new creation; we discover that we do indeed ‘delight in the law of the Lord’, we will lose our taste for the world and its temporal pleasures, we will desire to know more about God and His eternal truths.

Do you have this blessedness, this happiness?  Do you delight in God and His Word? Do you take pleasure in meditating about the joys and glories of eternity? If so, then it does not matter what you experience in this world, you will continually be blessed, and nothing can take this happiness away from you.

* Reference: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “True Happiness”, Gwasg Bryntiron Press, Wales, UK, 1967, pp.1-27

*Photograph: Panoramic Sunset over St. Finian’s Bay by Jean Winters Olkonen

How to Follow the Golden Rule

” because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Romans 8:21

My previous post expounded upon how the Golden Rule is the quintessential summary of the law and the prophets.  Such exposition would not be complete without considering why, after the Golden Rule has been before mankind’s face for over two thousand years, multitudes still do not follow it.  The problem of human relationships is raging as ever now in modern times as it was the very first time the Lord first introduced this glorious principle.

Why do human beings abandon this lofty rule for living? Why are there ongoing disputes between and among nations, in families, and at the cellular level, between two people?

The reason is biblical and theological.  One of the fundamental statements of the gospel is that man is sinful and perverted.  Everything can be brought down to one word: “self”.  Loving our neighbor as ourself is the one thing we do not do because we love self so much in a distorted and excessive way, that it is difficult to apply the Golden Rule.  Man is selfish by nature.

How then can one follow the Golden Rule?  The gospel solution starts with God: to start with the greatest commandment to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength”.  We start with God, not with our neighbor.

We turn from all our human relationship problems, the disputes and quarelling,  and we turn to God, and look into His face.  We see Him in all His holiness, His greatness, His almightiness and creative power, and humble ourselves before Him. The knowledge of God brings the realization of our poverty of spirit, our unworthiness, and of our utter need of Him.  In turn, we see other people as ourselves,  no longer as our competitors trying to beat us out in our worldly endeavors, but as victims like us, of sin and of the god of this world. We are both in the same predicament of overwhelming helplessness, that together we must run to Christ and avail ourselves of His wonderful grace of salvation.

It is when we have been delivered from the captivity of self that we are able to love our neighbor as ourselves, and we begin to enjoy the “glorious liberty of the children of God.”

*** Reference: David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, Martino Publishing, CT, 2011, pp. 211-216.

*** Photography: Sunrise by Giangiorgio Crisponi

The Golden Rule, the Law and the Prophets


” Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 7:12

The “Golden Rule” is the synopsis of the commandments that Jesus summed up in the words “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  It is the Lord’s prescription for successful human relationships, a system of thought where the place to start is our very own selves: taking stock of our likes and dislikes in the totality of our lives and activities.  Having performed this appraisal, when we come to interact with each other, we need to realize that the other person is exactly as we are in these matters.  Hence we are to put ourselves constantly in the other person’s position, being careful in our dealings to do or not to do those things that please or displease us ourselves.

It is commonly agreed that man’s great problem in the modern era is the problem of relationships.  If people applied the Golden Rule in their lives, this  problem would be addressed.  But there are those who believe that all that is needed is to hold up a standard  for people to follow, and things will work out fine.  But that is precisely what Jesus came against when he confronted the scribes and the Pharisees, those who upheld rules and regulations for people to follow, to conform to the letter of the law.

Jesus made a resounding proclamation in saying that the golden rule “is the law and the prophets”;  it is their whole object and purpose.  The Lord was concerned about portraying to the people the right and proper view of God’s law.  Problems arise because we do not fully understand the meaning of God’s law, its character and content. Many times we are engulfed in the number of directives and ordinances, that we forget what is the spirit of the law.

It is also perilous to view the law as something negative and prohibitive.  While there are negative aspects of the law, the Lord went to great lengths in the Sermon on the Mount to demonstrate the law as having a positive and spiritual nature.  It was never meant to be mechanical, and it was the fallacy of the scribes and Pharisees that they diminished something that was inherently spiritual into something in the realm of the mechanical, making it an end in and of itself; they failed to see the spiritual intent and character of the law.  Most of all, the scribes and Pharisees neglected to comprehend the great end and purpose for which the law had been given.

Why should we not covet our neighbor’s spouse, goods and possessions, why should we not kill and steal, why should we not commit adultery?  Are these directives designed simply for the sake of following rules and regulations and to keep our lives confined within certain boundaries?  No, the whole purpose and true spirit behind the law is that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and that we are to love one another.

Love lies at the very heart of the golden rule.  Love is truly the consummate summary of the law and the prophets.

*** Reference: David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, Martino Publishing, CT, 2011, pp. 206-210.

Leave All Carry-On Luggage Behind!

“… is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?” Matthew 6:25

I just landed after two long legs of flights from the US to Asia. Exhausting.

For countless times, I have heard the pre-flight instructions from the cabin deck, but for some reason, on the first leg of the trip, the same trite sentence reverberated in my mind like the after-shocks of a violent bolt of lightning: “In case of an emergency evacuation, leave all carry-on luggage behind.”

Why?  Why shouldn’t I hold on to my handbag with my cell phone, cash, passport,  credit cards, jewelry, make-up, keys to my car and home, and other things I hurriedly stashed for travel emergencies?

Because an emergency landing is a matter of life and death.  Because nothing else matters but the very lives of the passengers.

And what of the luggage left behind?  Critical times require critical thinking.  Triage.  Luggage contents may or may not be replaced, but there is a limit to their value.  Even the world’s greatest treasures have a finite monetary amount.  Numbers go on to infinity. There will always be a calculated amount which puts the worth of these earthly treasures in their proper places.

Not so with human life.  Despite the atrocities of slavery which imputed monetary value on human slaves, the worth of a person cannot be measured.

How succinctly Jesus pointed to the central truths of our existence in this world.  How often He admonished the people not to lay up treasures upon earth, but to lay up treasures upon heaven: to provide for eternity, to ensure one’s place in the Kingdom of God. Centuries ago,  a wise emperor of Germany, once described heavenly treasures in these words: “Such goods are worth getting and knowing, as will not sink nor wash away if a shipwreck happens.”  In today’s jet age parlance, such goods as will not sink nor wash away if an airplane emergency evacuation on the ocean happens.

That was some flight.

* Photograph by Above the Ocean by Colleen Lane

Steps to Increasing Faith

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33

My previous post was on the nature and causes of “little faith” as expounded upon by Dr. Martynn Lloyd-Jones.  I continue on this topic of faith to present Dr. Lloyd-Jones’ prescription on how to make one’s inadequate faith grow.

The three-step process for increasing faith can be found in the verses of Matthew 6:31-33.

Jesus exhorted the multitude to “take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, how shall we be clothed?”.  The Lord gave two distinct reasons:  First of all, food, drink and clothing are the very things that occupy the minds of Gentiles, and second, the Heavenly Father already knows we have need of these things.

The first key to increasing faith is understanding what type of people the “Gentiles” are,  as described by Jesus. The word “Gentile” is synonymous with the heathen.  Jesus was preaching to the Jews, God’s chosen people, who had the oracles of God, and had special knowledge of Who God is.  As Christians, we can lay hold of and apply this teaching to our lives because we have become privy to the revelation of God’s Kingdom through Jesus Christ. The heathen, on the other hand, have no knowledge of God, and live their lives limited in their own thoughts and “without God in the world”.  (p. 136)

Jesus asserts that the Christian view of life is to be different from the heathen’s mindset.  What are the world views of the heathen?  At one end of the spectrum, there is the belief that everything that happens is accidental: the theory of contingency.  Dr. Julian Huxley and others who hold this viewpoint allege that there is no purpose whatsoever in life, there is no design or order, and that everything happens by chance.  The other end of the spectrum is the fatalistic view that a person can do nothing about life because everything has already been predetermined by some higher power. Both contingency and fatalism lead to worry because one is never certain what is going to happen next. (p. 137)

The Christian view can be described as the “doctrine of certainty”.  Life is not controlled by “blind necessity”, but certain things are definite and well-grounded because we are in the hands of the living God.  So as Christians, we are to put this certainty over against the pagan doctrines of contingency and fatalism.  A person’s beliefs are evident by the way one behaves when the crises of life come.  According to Jesus, we are to be different in our thinking, not to adapt the heathen philosophy of worry over food, drink and clothing.  If we think that way, then we are but spiritual worldlings.  One way to increase our faith, therefore, is to see that children of God are to live the life of faith, not to face the difficulties of life as the heathen do, but live in the light of that faith that they profess. (pp. 137-138)

The next key lies in the second reason put forth by Jesus about not worrying about material necessities: “For your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things”. Hence the second principle by which one can increase and enlarge one’s faith is implicit faith in and reliance upon God as our heavenly Father. We are not alone, God is always with us.  Earthly fathers care about their children: multiply that by infinity and that is how God cares and thinks about us, whatever our circumstance. (pp. 141-142)

The third key is found in verse 33: to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  In other words, “we are to concentrate upon perfecting our relationship to God as our heavenly Father”.  Jesus implicitly says, “if you want to seek anything, if you want to be anxious about anything, be anxious about your spiritual condition, your nearness to God, and your relationship to Him.” The Gentiles are seeking the worldly things. Seek ye rather, seek ye first and foremost and above everything else, the Kingdom of God.  This should be top priority. Jesus added that we also need to seek God’s righteousness.  This essentially means we are to seek righteousness and holiness.  Hence this is the way to increase faith: “The more holy we are, the nearer we shall be to God. The more holy we are, the greater will be our faith and our assurance and therefore our claims and our reliance upon God.” And this comes with a promise that if we truly seek God first, then “all the other things will be thrown in the bargain”.  (p. 145)

In conclusion, these are the ways to increase faith:  Do not be like the heathen in their views about life, remember that God is your heavenly Father and knows everything about you, and seek to be more like your Father, and live your life to be closer to Him each day. (p. 145)

*** Reference: David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “Studies in the Sermon on the Mount”, Martino Publishing, CT, 2011, pp. 135-145.

*** Photograph by Artemis