I have a question for you today. Are you really happy? I mean are you actually truly and honestly happy with your life. Maybe I should define the term happiness. Happiness is not the feeling you get when you get something. For instance, how many of you did the after thanksgiving shopping day? You get up at 4 a.m. with nothing but moonlight flowing through the windows to guide you to the light switch and groggily get ready for a day of exhausting shopping. Why do you do all that? Why do any of us go “Christmas” shopping in the first place? I think it is because we like see the faces of others light up. We can see a little twinkle in their eye when they receive what we have gotten for them. It’s fun with little kids because as soon as they here the word open, all you can see around them is a flurry of little arms and hands ripping ribbon strips of red and green wrapping paper and tossing them every where. They just know that something fun and exciting hides beneath that paper! They then proceed to play with their new toy for about two weeks before putting it down and never looking at it again.
I am talking today about a better happiness than that. A happiness that supersedes that temporary happiness fo giving and receiving gifts. God promised something in John 10:10. He stated blatantly why Jesus had come in the first place. “The thief only comes to steal kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” Satan sets up tons of traps to take away any semblance of joy and happiness we have in our lives; he comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Yet, Christ came to give life. He came so that we could rise above those empty desires and false feelings of happiness. Those temporal instances of happiness act like a drug. Once we have it, it fades away and we need something more to get our happiness high. So we want more, bigger, and better stuff to keep the euphoria going. Soon, you might even start using credit cards to buy what you want, honestly planning on paying for it later. Now you have debt to go along with the emptiness left behind by that missing happiness.
Don’t you want something more this year? I know that living from puff of happiness to the next puff of happiness is a miserable existence. Today, I want to offer you something much more substantial than that. I want to offer you real happiness that can always be had each and every day. It can never run out and never be exhausted. I am here to tell you that you can have real happiness! Honestly, this happiness is so simple that it is found in a children’s book. The title is Jesus Makes Me Happy. This little book has only seven pages including the cover. The other six pages have written on them six reasons we can be happy; six pieces of a life lived abundantly. Each one has a verse we can cling to every single day of the week! The left side of each part says “I am happy because…” which is then finished on the other side of the book. You can be happy because…
Jesus Loves You! – John 3:16, 15:9
“I loved you as the father loved me. Now remain in my love.”
Considering this book is a simple book for a child, we might be more than ready to dismiss its simplistic claims at happiness but I think you should stop and take a second to consider what it has to say. It even starts with the most simplistic of ideas. Jesus Christ loves you. He loves you in such a way that he will love you no matter what you do or where you go. He will always love you. He will never leave you nor will he abandon you. He loves you that much. He loves you so much that he would even die for you; actually He already did.
So many people are looking for love and grabbing at anything resembling it. Boys and Girls date as they try to figure out and understand love. Men and women change partners weekly trying to feel loved by someone and yet they never seem to find it. They always feel emptier than the week before. Wives scream and yell at their husbands because they feel unloved by His actions. They get mad and go gossip to their friends about how stupid their husband is. The problem is that the rest of the group feels the same way and so they deepen the problem instead of helping it. Husbands get tired of being nagged and shut themselves off so they can no longer hear their wife. They are tired of being disrespected. Does this resemble anything in your life? You spend all day cleaning the house and fixing yourself up and no one cares to say a word. You work your can off all day trying to make ends meet and never hear a word of thanks.
Don’t you want something more? If you keep trying to find happiness that way you will never ever get it. Jesus loves you enough to die for you. If you want true happiness, get Jesus! Can you say that? I am happy because Jesus loves me! Have you ever thought of giving that love to someone else? You cannot give what you do not have! You can be happy because Jesus loves you.
Jesus Watches Over You! – Psalm 33:13-14
You can also be happy because Jesus watches over you. Psalm 33:13-14 say, “The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees every person. From His throne He watches everyone who lives on earth.” God knows you by name. He knows exactly who you are and exactly to whom you were born. He knows how many hairs are on your head. Some of us take less effort to count than others however. Mine feels like it is diminishing too quickly. God never sleeps either so he is watching you at all times and everywhere you are. He knows your individual circumstances and your individual problems. He can hear you when you cry on the inside. God actually has the diligence to continually wait with you through the hard times.
Jesus watches over you when you lay awake at night, wondering how you are going to pay that next bill when you have no money in your bank account. Jesus watches over you when you fret and worry when your child becomes ill and you really cannot afford to take off of work. Jesus watches over you when you go on long trips away from your family and you wonder if they will be okay while you are gone. Jesus watches over your medical issues whether it is a bad knee, arthritis, cancer, kidney failure, fibromyalgia, or any other condition you may have. God knows your child’s needs. He is sitting right there watching and helping in His own way. Sometimes that is healing and sometimes that is just giving you the strength to make it through. You could worry and fret over all that is going on in your life but don’t you want something more? You can be happy because Jesus watches over you! Do you know someone who needs to know someone does see them? You could go tell them that Jesus always watches and loves them.
Jesus Cares When I’m Sad! – 1 Peter 5:7
You can be happy because Jesus loves you and watches over you. He also deeply cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7 says, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” God doesn’t just sit in heaven watching passively as we struggle through life. God is not a mean kid with a magnifying glass frying us like little ants. He doesn’t sit in heaven throwing lightning bolts at us either, that Thor from Norse mythology. He really, actually cares about all that stuff going wrong in your life. He cares about every little worry you have. He cares when you feel useless, unappreciated, and unloved. He cares when everything feels like it is going wrong.
I would say this is one of the most amazing parts of God to me. I’ll be honest with you; this job takes you on a rollercoaster of emotions and mental states. Some weeks I feel like I am worthless and can do nothing right. I feel like I have miserably failed you all in every way. I can get pretty negative about life and my ministry here. Yet, even in the depths of my despair and self-pity, God sits with me and loves me. He cares about me even when I want to give up. Sometimes I feel like I have already failed as a father and a husband and I have only been married three years. I want to spend more time with my family but I have conflicts of interest in that I want to do more with my ministerial life. I want to work harder to have better sermons. Even when I struggle with all this, God lovingly waits for me and with me. He loves me through it all. He cares about all my struggles. When Amy and I hurt each other with dumb words we should have never said, God is there to comfort each of us. Why would a being like God, the creator of the universe, concern himself with my problems? He loves me and cares about my problems. I wouldn’t give that up for anything. I am happy because God cares when I’m sad. You can be truly and genuinely happy even in the rough times because Jesus cares when you are sad.
Jesus teaches you! – Psalm 40:8
“My God, I want to do what you want. Your teachings are in my heart.”
You can be happy because Jesus loves you, He watches over you, and even cares deeply for you. You can also be happy because He is your teacher as well. If no one had ever taught you anything, you would still have the mind of a child. You would probably have never really learned to read, write, count, or most anything else. Honestly, you may have never learned to walk if it had not been for someone teaching you. You learned how to do you job from someone as well. You don’t just magically know how to drive a semi. You don’t just magically know how to work with networks or how to build homes. These are skills learned from someone else. The same rules apply for living for God. You don’t just magically start out doing what He wants. You learn from others including the preacher and from the scriptures what you need to know.
If God didn’t help you learn, you would probably never understand that you have broken His rules. If you never knew that you broke the rules, you could never be held accountable for your sin. If you could never be held accountable, God could have never sent Christ to take your sin away. If God didn’t send Christ, you could never have a relationship with God and you would never have the chance to enter heaven. Thankfully, God sent the Word, our Bibles, so that we could learn and understand. Jesus teaches us through others, the Bible, and the world around us. I can be happy because Jesus teaches me. You can be happy too because Jesus teaches you. You can learn from the one man who lived perfectly on this earth. The one man who understood what it meant to live life to the fullest! His teaching has significance to our lives. It can change everything around us.
Jesus is my Friend & is happy with me! – John 15:14, 17; Mark 10:14
Jesus loves you, watches you, cares for you, and teaches you. This little children’s book has already named four specific places where you can find true and genuine happiness instead of the happiness we find in gifts, stuff, and other people. Yet, it has two more which I have combined into this last point. Jesus can be a wonderful friend who is truly happy with us. Jesus draws closer and closer to each of us as we will let him. John 15 says that “You are my friends if you do what I command you. This is my command: Love each other.” Jesus is not just our Lord and Savior from our sins. Jesus isn’t just some distant person who watches us suffer. He cares deeply and wants to be our friend.
This is the second most amazing part of God to me. I had always imagined God was some distant old man with a big white beard sitting on some big chair throwing lighting bolts at me. He may yet have a giant white beard and He does have a throne but He doesn’t throw lighting bolts. Well, two out of three isn’t that bad. Something I never believed was that he wanted to know me personally. He wanted to have a personal friendship with me. Yet, when I finally believed that he existed, the one thing I wanted was someone to speak to just like a close good friend. I never imagined He would be such a close and good friend. I can talk to Him about everything in my life. I can cry about my situation or rejoice in how great things are going for me. He never complains and He always listens to me. He is the best friend ever. I am very happy because Jesus is my friend. Even better however, is that God actually believes in me! He believes that I can do good and that I am a wonderful person. He believes in my transformation through Him. I had never really had that before. I had always had to fight for everything even against my parents. Yet, now I have a loving God who loves me regardless of my faults and actually believes that I can do something right! Wow, God is wonderful! I am genuinely happy because God is my friend, believes in me, and gives me a place to belong! You can be happy too!
Don’t you want more from life? Don’t you want more than just a week of happiness before it fades and you need something more? Don’t you want a happiness that you can always count on and that never fades away? Jesus Christ has just ticket for you. He loves you so much that He died to save you. He saved you from the punishment God has for the many times you broke His laws. The punishment is living for eternity with God; an emptiness similar to your life without Christ. He loves you that much. He watches you fail time and again and yet still loves you. He cares when you look for love everywhere except Him. He cares when your heart is broken or your life is in shambles. He sits waiting to help you learn the lessons of life. He can even be your best friend and give you a place to belong! Do you want real happiness during the holidays? Jesus is the answer. You will never find true happiness anywhere else. I find it funny that a little children’s book tells us the story that as adults we have needed to hear time and time again. What are you planning on giving your friends and family for Christmas? May I suggest you give them a little piece of true happiness. Give them something they will keep for the rest of eternity. Give them Jesus Christ.
Maybe you don’t have him yourself or maybe you want to rededicate your life to Christ because you have strayed away. Maybe you just really wish you could have real happiness. Its simple to accept Christ. Believe that He died for you, admit that you have sinned, confess that Christ is God, and follow obediently into baptism. We can discuss further what all these mean and why you do them but this is the basis for Christ. I want give you a happiness that cannot be taken away and that you can always have. I want to give you Jesus this Christmas season. What will you give everyone around you?
