”Don’t copy
the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new
person by changing the way you think.” (Romans 12:2)
"The mind
is its own place, and in itself can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of
Heaven" wrote John Milton. This echoes the truth of Romans 12:2 which
highlights the importance of letting God transform our lives by reprogramming
our minds. There is a tremendous power of Love that is in each one of us. All
of us have the potential to change the world. We don't need unusual training or
ability to change the world. All that is
required, according to Matthew Barnett, is "a heart that cares, a mind
that’s determined, a spirit that’s willing, a cause that matters, and a person
to help."
What we need
is a radical change in mindset to recognise and understand the critical
difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is a transient feeling of
pleasure that depends on our external circumstances. Happiness has been
described as the “unseen dollar” and is increasingly seen as an important
factor for the health, well being and progress of the people.
Bhutan is seen
as the “poster child for happiness” but many Western journalists fail to
recognize and understand the underlying spiritual foundation of happiness in
that country. Joy is an inner state of being that we can experience even in
pain, suffering and sorrow. We can try to find happiness in hedonistic pursuits
but we can only receive joy for it is a gift. In fact, it is through pain, suffering
and sorrow that we often receive the gift of joy.
Happiness is
when our desires and wants are met but joy comes through what we have given of ourselves
to others. When we pursue happiness, our energies are spent on earning external
and materialistic rewards for ourselves. When we seek joy we embark on a
journey to discover the potential for love that is within each of us. As we become channels of God's love, we receive the inner rewards of joy, hope and peace. The gurus of
the world promises us many ways to find happiness but Jesus Christ came to
bring joy to the world. Hence we sing the Christmas carol:
“Joy to the
world! the Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing”
We may
experience happiness in this world but we can only find joy in the Kingdom of
God. Our struggle is to live in both the world and in God’s Kingdom. But the
good news is that when we confess Jesus as the Son of God, we have God living
in us and we live in God (1 John 4:15). How then are we living out this good
news?
Unfortunately,
many of us Christians often end up becoming Pharisees who “crush people with
unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden." (Matthew 23:4) We read the bible and focus on the rules on how to please God
instead of reading God’s love messages to us so that we will be witnesses of
the reality of having Christ in us and sharing the love of Christ with others.
In her devotional,
Jesus Calling, Sarah Young makes the very important observation that when we feel driven to serve God we may see Him as a harsh taskmaster instead of a loving Heavenly Father.
We often
forget that God is sovereign and that His ways are higher than ours. Our love for God
becomes lukewarm and we lose our desire for His loving Presence.
The worldly
attitude of seeking happiness will lead us to lose our love for God. It is only
when God is our first love that we will filled with His goodness and find the blessed assurance of the inexpressible joy of being lost in the wonder of God’s love. Before we can
change our feelings, we need to change our behaviours. To change our
behaviours, we need to change our thought patterns. And to change our thought
patterns we need to change our beliefs. Psalm
13:5-6 gives us the secret recipe to cope with the times when God seems far away:
“But I trust
in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise, for He has
been good to me.”
When we are
born of the Spirit and truly believe that we are the children of God, we will
learn to trust God when we face the storms of life. As we put our trust in God,
we will change our responses to negative circumstances in our lives from
complaining to thanksgiving. And when we are filled with thanksgiving, we will
be filled with joy.
The hymn,
We’ve A Story To Tell To The Nations, spells out our calling to change the
world by sharing the message of God’s love through the story of our lives. Our
lives are to be the songs of God’s love that will conquer evil and to lift up
the cross of Christ. When we do so, all the world’s great people will come to
know the wonderful truth of God’s Kingdom of peace and light. We have the
potential to change our world but it all begins with the inner journey into our
own hearts. May our Lord reprogram our hearts so that we can sing:
“For the
darkness shall turn to dawning and the dawning to noon day bright
And Christ’s great Kingdom shall come on
earth, the Kingdom of love and light.
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