Really? Just Don’t Worry and Choose to Be Happy?? Wow!
I like the idea of instantly becoming worry-free by just choosing to be happy, and apparently down through the years there have been many who’ve tried….with a little help from outside sources. Traveling with my friend evangelist Shad Williams in Kenya many years ago, he spoke (still does) to large crowds gathered in market places, transportation hubs, and schools to share a clear message about Jesus and His love. In the context of explaining the Gospel message, Shad relates that everyone “wants to live a happy and successful life”. That is true isn’t it? He then introduces the truth that outside sources are not enough, but there is an inside source, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is the source of true success and happiness now and eternally.
But we have to talk about the reality that not everyone is happy or knows how to be happy again, should happiness be lost along the way. Shad would then share that there are roadblocks to that happy, successful life, and the major obstacle is sin. He and I would then share how Jesus came to pay the penalty our sin had earned. Coming to a place of receiving the gift of forgiveness and eternal life by faith in Jesus, believing that He rose from the dead after sacrificing His life on the cross, places us on the road to true happiness, success, and joy in life. I hope you know that truth personally.
But there is more, isn’t there? I don’t mean more than the Gospel needed for salvation; I mean there is more to our living a successful and joyous life. In my 20’s I thought I had to be right about everything until I finally realized… I didn’t even know everything to be right about! But I must be right about some things for sure!! First, I must be right about the priorities God made clear to me. Those priorities include loving Him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Coming to faith in Jesus Christ is a response to the love God has for me. He loved me long before I knew He wanted me to love Him back. Loving God this way begins with accepting His gift of Jesus. Secondly, I must come to love others as myself.
Being right about these two commands leads me to fulfill another of Jesus’ priorities: making disciples who make disciples who do the two Great Commandments in Matthew 22:37-39. We call this the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20.
We spend much of our life trying to be right about a great many things, and that has its benefits and obstacles, but may I suggest along the way, that you and I must get these foundational life commandments correct and put them in place asap?
In the end, as I face my Lord Jesus in judgment, I desire that He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Today, I want to love God well by being in a growing relationship with Him as I worship, learn, and develop. Today I want to love others as I love myself illustrating how loved I am by my Father God and how Jesus by Holy Spirit has changed me. So, that means life will be about growing relationships with God and with others.
I won’t know the answers to all of life’s questions and controversies, but this one thing I pray: Father, may my love for You and others grow as I discover how much You love me and how much others need to be loved too? Philippians 1:9-11
Here is that song from Bobby McFerrin that was so popular for so long but didn’t provide answers to how to accomplish it: