The Fourth Key to Happiness

Way back in February,  I started this series and said that there was a fourth secret to happiness.
Not everyone will agree with me on this one, but that’s okay. I’m simply sharing how it’s inspired me and given me joy in nearly every situation I face, both good and bad. And that’s my relationship with Jesus.

The questions or statements that I hear a lot are;

How? How does religion bring you happiness?

Surely you’re just following a bunch of rules? That’s the opposite of freedom. That’s living with restrictions right?

I guess my answer to that is it all comes down to understanding and perspective.

Perspective is one of the reasons why Christianity has got itself a bad name. God has been given a really bad reputation. Take “sin,” for example. Most of my friends have the perspective that God has given us a big “don’t do this” list and if we do any of it, God is angry and we are bad people. It’s seen as judgemental and restrictive. Plus most of the stuff on that list seems harmless. It’s all a bit of fun. It’s just following your feelings. God is just being harsh for the sake of it. He’s a kill joy.

However, that’s not who God is to me or how I view “sin.” That’s not my perspective.
Some of you reading this may be parents or know parents at least. When you raise your children, you don’t say to your babies or toddlers, “do whatever feels good. Do whatever makes you happy.” If you do that, you’re going to have children putting all sorts in their mouth, running out into roads, snatching and pushing each other, climbing whatever they can get their hands on, jumping off of whatever they can climb, touching things that can hurt them and all the rest. As a parent, you put rules in place to keep your children safe. Yes they are curious and they love to explore, and they will explore, but within the boundaries that keep them safe! Because currently, they are not the best judges of character of what is good and safe and what will harm them. They don’t know the different between right and wrong yet and they never will unless you teach them. If children misbehave, they are spoken to. There are consequences because how else will they learn? Within the rules and boundaries that are put in place for them, your children thrive and grow and develop in a way that is safe and good, and they get to live their best lives.

This is what kind of parent our God is that I’ve come to know. And the stuff we label as sin isn’t actually as harmless as people think. In fact it can be harmful. We may not be children and therefore know the difference between right and wrong. However, that is before our feelings come into play. Unfortunately, we are heavily influenced by our feelings. We may know something is wrong, but if we want it, we follow our feelings and damn the consequences. We go against common sense because our feelings are too overwhelming. Ultimately, following feelings is all well and good until it is at the expense of others. Until we hurt people.
Sin usually hurts us and others around us. God knows this, and that is why he hates sin. That is why he puts boundaries in place. Your child may really feel like touching that iron. But you’re not going to let them do it! And you certainly don’t see a parent stopping their child from touching an iron and say to them, “Why are you restricting them?” God gives us boundaries because he has our best interests at heart and he loves us. He doesn’t want us to hurt other people, and he wants us to be good and safe and live life to the full. He wants the best for us. He’s a good father. That is the real Christian perspective. That is the real God.

So that explains why he has put boundaries in place, but still, how is my faith a secret to happiness? Because God doesn’t take away everything. Instead He gives me everything! I don’t feel as though I live my life following rules. In fact it’s the complete opposite. The bible says Jesus came to bring life and life to the full. John 10:10. That is exactly how it feels. I feel as though I live my life to the full. But how does He do this?

1) By giving us a joy that lasts, even when we don’t “feel” happy.
I’m not talking about the feeling of happiness. It is something else entirely. And it comes from knowing who God is, what he’s done for us and remembering all that he’s promised us. I have gone through some really tough things in my life that have really tested me. Things that had the potential to send me under. I have been both the person that has hurt someone and the someone who has been hurt and it has been horrendous. But in those times, I (eventually) trusted in the God I knew and spent time with Him. I reminded myself who He was. That I had the God who created the universe on my side. This powerful God who happened to adore me had my back and more importantly had me! And if that was the case, what did I have to fear? I was completely safe and in good hands.

And the more I spent time with Him and remembered who He was, He reminded me of who I am. Sometimes it can be easy to lose yourself when times are overwhelming. It’s always good to have a voice there to remind you of who you really are. He also reminded me of His promise that everything was going to be okay. That my situation is temporary compared to the good future he has in store for me which is very, very permanent. A sad story is more bearable if you know it has a happy ending. People can keep going when they know what they’re moving towards. Looking forward to the future is not a bad thing. It can bring you hope and perseverance in a seemingly hopeless situation. I’m not denying that. However, it does not mean you can’t find joy now in the present. You will miss out on life if your mind lives in the future, because there are blessings in our lives today. This was another thing that happened when I spent time with God. The more I remembered who He is, the more He reminded me what He’d given me. He reopened my eyes to the blessings around me, who I had and what I had, which leads me to my next point. Another way God gives us life to the full.

2) By filling our lives with good things.
He’s given us our talents and dreams inside of us, the people we love beside us and the beautiful world around us! What this whole series has been about, the other three secrets to life… He gave them to us to bring us happiness. He didn’t create us to be slaves or mindless robots. He created us to love us as his children – to be our Father – and one of the ways he does this is by giving us things to make us happy. We love giving our children gifts and seeing their reactions… same thing.
What’s more, like I’ve said all the way through this series, he has freely given them to us. There’s no catch. They are not things we have to buy. They are not things only other people have. They are not things that are in our past or things we have to wait for in the future. He freely gives them to us now. To enjoy now because He loves us. He’s filled our lives with good things. Things that will bring us real and true happiness.

3) By encouraging us to do good!

“Half of the reason we exist is because we are created to love and enjoy them…”

The Secrets to Happiness.
tiffanyjadedotblog

Half of the reason. The other half that brings us happiness and one of my main points from this post is that we were created to love other people extravagantly!
The bible tells us that all God’s commands can be summed up in this one commandment.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind… and love your neighbour as you love yourself.

Matthew 22:37- 39

He encourages us to love people! The bible is full of advice of how to love people best! And again, he doesn’t ask us to do it because it’s a boring thing to do. He knows that it brings us joy! He knows it will make us happy. It does something to us. We always feel something different when we watch people go out of their way for someone else. When someone surprises someone that they love. When we watch a little child share their sweets and toys When we hear about the soldiers who gave their lives for their friends and country. Some people get really excited when giving gifts or doing something kind for someone else because they can’t wait to see their reaction. Can’t wait to make them happy. It feels good to do good for other people. I want to talk more about this so I will do a post specifically about this. But doing good for other people is what I believe to be the other half of why we were created. It’s built into us, to love each other and take care of each other. If we can do this, if we can start to think of others instead of ourselves, we again unlock another area of joy that fills our lives entirely.

God has been seriously misrepresented. He is not a kill joy. He brings joy! He is not sat there waiting for us to trip up and judge us, He is a good Father who loves us and wants us to know Him.
So if the reason people think being a Christian is boring or bad is because we miss out on things and just follow a set of rules, that couldn’t be further from the truth. He doesn’t restrict my life. He adds to my life. He is my life. My present is full of good things and good people, and I have a relationship with a God who loves me and has my best interests at heart, who also protects me from hurting myself and others. He gives me life to the full.
If you’ve read this and want to know more about it, here is a link to a post I wrote in April that can give you that. https://tiffanyjade.blog/2019/04/21/what-is-easter-really-about/

But this is where my “be thankful for what you have” message ends! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope it has opened your eyes to all the good stuff that is around you. I hope you’ve been inspired to hang out more with the amazing people in your life, or been inspired to explore more of this beautiful world we live in, or challenged to go for it with your dreams and talents, not caring about what everyone else thinks or comparing it to what they have. You don’t need to look anywhere other than what you have in the here and now. The grass isn’t greener on the other side. It is greener where you water it. Happy watering.

The Secrets to Happiness
https://tiffanyjade.blog/2019/02/22/the-secrets-to-happiness/

The First Key to Happiness
https://tiffanyjade.blog/2019/03/30/the-first-key-to-happiness/

The Second Key to Happiness
https://tiffanyjade.blog/2019/05/07/the-second-key-to-happiness/

The Third Key to Happiness
https://tiffanyjade.blog/2019/08/15/the-third-key-to-happiness/