Have you ever caught “lightning bugs” and placed them in a jar with vents in the lid so they could breathe? It was a favorite activity for children in our neighborhood when I was a child. We would “capture” them and then place them in a glass jar where their tiny bright “lights” would glow in the darkness of the night. After watching them go “on and off” for a while, we would “free” them, and they would fly off into the darkness fulfilling God’s purpose for them.
Had they remained in the jar, they would have eventually died. God, however, intended for them to be free and happy and live the life He planned for them.
It’s like that with us. God planned a unique life for everyone: a life of happiness and peace. But happiness can only come if we are free. Some think that happiness and pleasure are synonymous. They are not. Happiness is not derived from possessions nor destroyed by poverty. There is a story of a king who wanted the shirt “off the back” of the happiest man in his kingdom. When they found the man, he did not have a shirt - he only had a ragged cloak.
Happiness is not what happens to us - it is what happens within us. It is the by-product of what occurs in us if we live in agreement with the will of God. Life in His will brings us freedom from being “contaminated” by the things of the world. Happiness fills lives that are” regulated” by the Word of God. Following His Word and His way will bring pleasure and peace.
Psalm 1:1 promises “a blessed - or - a happy life” to those who delight in and obey His law. His law will set us free from being contained and controlled by worldly things that fade.
Prayer: Father, may we set our eyes on things that are permanent and not passing. May we discover the joy and peace and satisfaction that only comes from You. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Scripture For Today: Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. Psalm 1:1
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