(Youth Aflame,
10-28-98)
Have you
ever had someone pull out in front of you, causing you to run off the road?
Sometimes they may begin to curse at you in finger language and spew out
four-letter words, some you may have never heard before. Boy, can it make you
mad! You may want to run him off the road and let him see what it feels like.
The more you think about it, the more upset you get. By the time you get home,
you can be one hot puppy.
Imagine this: you’re walking up the sidewalk to your
house, and the Holy Spirit speaks. "You gave it to him all right," He
says. No, I didn't, you think. I couldn't even catch up to him to give it to
him!
He responds: "No, you gave him your joy. You are no
longer in control." Have you ever thought of it that way? When we get upset
about something another person does, we allow him to take control, stealing our
happiness and replacing it with anger, discouragement or disappointment.
Most of us think that happiness is a feeling we get as a
result of good experiences and that we have little or no control over our state
of well being. Actually the opposite is true; happiness is, for the most part, something we determine.
We owe it to the people we love to be happy. Ask a friend
what it's like to grow up with a family member who is sour and depressed. I can
tell you that the most effective people in the kingdom of God are those who are
full of joy.
As a teen-ager, you at times may hear the enemy whisper,
"It's cool to pout, wrinkle your eyebrows and whine. People will feel sorry
for you and give you your way.
Want to know what God says? "It's not cool; it's
stupid." Not only does it make the people around you miserable; it also
makes you miserable.
Anybody can be miserable. But to be full of joy, even
when things our way-now that's an achievement.
God has given us some powerful principles in His Word
that will allow us to be happy in this life. I call them the "Four Thou
Shalt Nots":
1. Thou shalt not be
negative.
The mighty men and women of God who’ve lived a dynamic
life of joy and influence were optimists.
Paul is an example. When he as unjustly thrown in prison
for his faith, he wrote: “I want you to know, dear friends, that everything
that has happened to me here has helped to spread Good News. "For everyone
here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains
because of Christ. And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians here
have gained confidence and become bolder in telling others about Christ (Phil. 1:12-14, NLT). Paul chose to focus on the good that
came of his imprisonment rather than on his suffering.
2. Thou shalt not allow unmet
expectations to steal thy joy.
Everybody has an idea about how life should be. The
problem comes when an event or circumstance doesn't turn out exactly the way we
expect it to, or when.
I believe in having high expectations. But in thinking
big, we have to be aware that our plans may not unfold exactly the way we think
they should. Don't allow a change in plans to bring about disappointment; just
keep hanging on to your faith with joyful expectation because your day is
coming. Habakkuk 2:3 says: The vision is yet for an appointed
time; but at the end it will speak.. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it
will surely come" (NKJV).
Quote: “Happiness is not an elusive feeling, it’s a matter of living
in the truth rather than in what you see.”
3. Thou shalt not compare
thyself with others.
Comparing ourselves with others is an easy trap to fall
into. It is natural for us to look at the people around us-and think they are
happier, better looking, more sharply dressed or more well off We think if only
we had their parents, their homes, their clothes or their backgrounds we could
be happy.
But Paul said that those who themselves with each other
and measure themselves against their own little ideas are stupid
(see
2 Cor. 10:12, TLB). So don't limit yourself God has something bigger
and better for you than you think. Happiness is not an elusive feeling; it's a
matter of living in the truth rather than in what you see.
4. Thou shalt not whine.
Every one of us has done this at some time or the
other…waaah waah waahhh! We get so caught up in the situation we are in, that
we lose it… we start whining and complaining about how tough it is, or how bad
it is, or how we don’t have what so and so has. Is this faith? No! God wants
us to be joyful and thankful for what we have, and even in tough times we can
retain our joy and not “whine”. Whining can show a lack of appreciation for
what God has done for us, and more importantly, a lack of faith. Let’s read a
verse that talks about this…
Colossians 3:12-17
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness,
humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13bearing with one another, and
forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ
forgave you, so you also must do. 14But
above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. 15And
let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one
body; and be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly
in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17And
whatever you do in word or deed, do
all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
So we have seen several examples of how God desires us to walk in HIS joy, a joy that doesn’t fade away when problems arise…but lasts through the tough and good times. Determine to lay hold of the truth-and be happy!