Have you ever wondered what God’s primary goal is for you? Do you know it’s not to make you happy? This might shock you, but God’s primary goal for his children is to make them holy.
Matthew 16:26 says, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” This is the kind of person who has anything in life they can dream of, but in the end loses it all. They end up eternally separated from God. But boy were they happy for a short while on earth. They “gained the entire world.”
Joy comes from knowing who Jesus is. Joy is found in those who have been, “enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 6:4). The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” It’s not the amount of stuff you accumulate. We are to store up treasures in heaven that last. (Matthew 6:19-21). Joy belongs to those who have experienced God. He is more than just knowledge in a book. More than a cute bedtime story. More than a baby in a manager. He is the Son of God, sent to earth to free us from every sin.
God is working overtime, to make you what you need to be. Remember it isn’t what is in a person that defiles them, but what comes out. (Matthew 5:11). It’s a heart condition. Jesus told the religious leaders of his day, you honor me with your lips, but your hearts are far from me. (Matthew 15:8).
God did not call his followers “to be impure, but to live a holy life.” (1 Thessalonians 4:7). In 1 Peter 2:9 we read, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
If you’re waiting on God to make you happy, can I suggest you consider how you are living. God is working to make you holy. If you seek His Kingdom and His Righteousness first, all these other things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:33). True joy is only found in God. Happiness is a byproduct of walking holy with God.
