Happiness Is In the Result

At one time or another most of us have heard a variation of the philosophical insight, “Life is 10% what happens and 90% of how you respond to it.” Out of that comes the knowledge the only real part of our lives over which we have total control is our attitudes. Nobody makes us happy. We decide to see something as a source of happiness. No one can make us angry. We decide the action of someone else has crossed one of our boundaries and we choose to let the anger flow.

A recent meeting among our churches focused upon the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5:1-10. Various speakers shared information on ministries that in some manner represented one of the statements from this passage. The program provided more than facts on logistics. Human needs with faces took on a reality often missed in statistical reports.

Frank Stagg, a 20^th century Baptist New Testament scholar, pointed out the Greek of the Beatitudes may be translated as “Oh, the happiness of” rather than “blessed”. (The Broadman Bible Commentary) Since no verb exists in the Greek, using a simple introductory phrase adequately translates the phrase. His use of the word “happiness” emphasizes the impact of each beatitude as much if not more than the qualities mentioned for each.

Happiness is found in the results of the qualities put into practice, not the qualities themselves. Blessings come from those qualities being lived out and incorporated into daily lives. They are not ends unto themselves. Happiness is not gained through being, but through doing and our attitude in the process.

As each church representative shared how their family of faith was touching the lives of people around them, the joy was obvious. An example was one church that had grown a food pantry ministry into a major food distribution center working with several hundred families and supported by local food banks and grocery stores. The goal had not been to collect food. That was a method. The goal was to feed people for whom the month extended longer that personal resources would last. The happiness came with meeting the need.

Other information shared during the service focused upon the plight of aids victims in Africa where treatment and compassion can both be in short supply. No one wants to be infected with HIV or see a family member agonize under its destructive power. Yet happiness can be found by those who are poor in spirit and will humble themselves through helping the outcasts of society. A display pointed to the persecution of Christians in more than forty countries around the world. Happiness can be found by those who will seek to support those who remain faithful in their beliefs in spite of the threats of discrimination, imprisonment, and death.

“Oh, the happiness of” those who are poor in spirit, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are merciful, who are pure in heart, who are peacemakers, and who are persecuted for righteousness’s sake. Their happiness does not come because of the needs they experience or see. The happiness comes through the way they respond.

The Beatitudes call us to respond to the needs of the world and find there the happiness that is absent from what the world offers. Happiness comes through giving, giving to others in their need and giving to God in faithful obedience.

Happiness is often seen as a passing emotion, generated by the context of the moment. It need not be. It can become the deep response of joy that is untouched by external circumstances. That occurs when we decide “It is more blessed to give that to receive”. (Acts 20:35) The happiness is greater when we place others first. It is an attitude we choose.

The First Resurrection

Every year we Christians celebrate Holy Week and many people the season of Lent leading into it as well. The commercial side of the world celebrates the eggs, the candy, the new clothing, and the coming out after winter. For too many people, Christians and non believers alike, it is just the next holiday on the calendar.

There was a first Resurrection Sunday that came as a complete surprise to both friend and foe of Jesus. A wide diversity of emotions filled the people who were confronted by it in those first few hours. For every person who chooses to see the first Resurrection as a historical event, there comes that first Resurrection into their lives as well.

No events are recorded about the Saturday, the Sabbath, before the first Resurrection Sunday. The disciples were in hiding for fear the Jewish authorities would be searching for them as accomplices of Jesus. (John 20:19) A handful of women among their group had already gone to the market and purchased spices to cover the body of Jesus in the tomb as soon as the Sabbath was over, a method to treat the body before the later preparation for final burial. (Luke 23:55-56)

Judas Iscariot was dead. (Matthew 27:3-10) Peter was probably remembering his personal betrayal. (Luke 22:54-62) The others among the surviving eleven apostles remembered all too well their hasty abandonment of Christ when the soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had gone alone to his trial. (Matthew 26:47-56) The One who had called them to follow him and had been with them for nearly three years had had to go to his trial and execution in solitary humility.

Peter had stood at a distance in a courtyard. John had been with Mary the mother of Jesus at the crucifixion. (John 19:25-27) There were those few women who had been so close to the Master for all those years helping in whatever way they could. They stood watching among the crowd as the nails were driven in and the life was drained out.

On Saturday they all remembered where they had been, what they had done, during the previous twenty-four to thirty-six hours. They were frightened. They were ashamed. They were without hope. The dream was gone and they were back on their own.

Then came Sunday morning, the first day of the week and the first day of the new age of mankind. The tomb was empty. Jesus was alive! Emotions changed from despair to wonder to hope to celebration. (John 20:1-29) The first Resurrection changed the history of the world.

The first Resurrection still changes things in the life of a human being. Without Christ we are on our own pushed and pulled by the forces of the world over which we have little or no control. Hope is easily lost. Disappointment comes at every turn. Despair is waiting at the door ready to drag us down in the midst of our helplessness.

Then comes Sunday. Searching and searching we find nothing to give us a reason to face the future until we meet the Risen Lord. He shows us death is not the end. He shows us there is more to life than the rat race into which the world forces us. He shows us the depth of self-sacrificing love that is so much greater than the shallow waters of self-gratification. He gives us reason to hope.

The first Resurrection came once for the world. It is experienced again, fresh and powerful, in the life of every individual who is willing to surrender their own will, their own plan for life, to the One who came to make all things new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthian 5:17, NIV)

Death, Where Is Your Sting?

The Apostle Paul records in his first letter to the Corinthian Church a cry of victory over death as he celebrates the importance of the resurrection of Christ for all believers. (I Corinthians 15:54-57) The hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides the confidence we can have as we face death and the “glorious unknown” beyond it. The thought of death may leave us hesitant as we consider the total uniqueness of this experience all must meet, but fear does not need to be a part of it. Death no longer represents a defeat, but rather a dark curtain separating the dim light of this mortal life and the incomprehensible glory awaiting the children of God.

Within the last three weeks, I have watched my father move through that curtain. His passage was peaceful, and it ended a decades-long struggle to live with the pain of extensive arthritis. For the first time in perhaps 70 years, my father knows the promise we all have as recorded in Revelation 21:3-4 of a life free from pain and suffering. A believer and follower of Christ from childhood, Pop is now receiving, not a reward for a life filled with good deeds, but rather peaceful rest for a life surrendered to the love of the Savior who died for him.

This blog and several other responsibilities were put on hold during this time. To be able to spend the last hours of his life with him was more important than all else. I was sitting by his bed, my hand on his, when he took his last breath. He was an example to me in his life. His memory will remain so in the future.

Resurrection Sunday is approaching. Holy Week begins this Sunday with what is known as Palm Sunday. The last Sunday in Holy Week is called by the world Easter. We mark it as the day the empty tomb was discovered by a small group of women still in mourning after the crucifixion. (Luke 24:1-11) They thought the end had come. They were in for a big surprise!

The Apostle Paul said, “If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (I Corinthian 15:19-20) What the women learned on that first Easter, the Lord’s Day, was we did have hope for something beyond death. Life did not come to an end. Life in Christ was only momentarily interrupted by death.

I don’t know what heaven will be like. I’m not even clear about our journey through death into the presence of God. The Bible seems to give us enough information for our faith and then asks us to leave the rest in the hands of God. What form we will have and what will occupy our thoughts (time will be left far behind) receives only the barest hints in scripture. The picture we have in scripture seeks to describe the indescribable in human terms. That always leaves us wondering, questioning, and debating. It is as if God didn’t think it was important to give us details for what was beyond our ability to understand.

In this I have confidence, however. My father of 63 plus years is no longer suffering. His body is no longer fighting to keep vital processes going. If I can hold to one image, it is the same promise that Christ gave the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43) As he faced the certainty of death, I could ask for no greater assurance for my earthly father. For him the sting of death was gone.