Happiness, not all what it’s cracked up to be

Time to fire up the blog again, I have found a book that I think is very good, a book that besides the Bible I can use as a daily devotional. The book is Note to Self by Joe Thorn, so each day I will share the scripture passage a expert from the book and a few of my own thoughts.

Scripture passage Pslam 100

Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
² Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
³ Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.^[a]
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation

Section from the book

But let’s be honest, the reason you do not experience the joy you read about in Scripture is because your heart is divided, and your interests are spread thin.

Simple thoughts

I have said it before but it is worth repeating that there is a huge difference between happiness and joy, happiness is so very temporary. Happiness is much like a drug once we get it, the more we want and it usually takes more to get the same high that you experienced before. Therefore it’s hard to stay happy. One the other hand joy is much more lasting and maybe even in a sense permanent. If the truth were to be known everyone would be searching for joy and not happiness. It is joy and not happiness that we read about in the Bible. When we are searching for happiness we miss out on joy. In most cases the happiness we seek does not contain the LORD and joy is found in the LORD. A divided heart is a vulnerable heart and a heart focused on the LORD is a joyful one.  Ask yourself is it happiness you seek or is it joy? In the face of trouble happiness runs like a coward but joy will stick with you still the very end, happiness is not all what it’s cracked up to be. If you do want to experience joy just remember you will find it in Jesus.