Many of us say, “I’d only be happy if. . .” and then chase after temporal things like success, security, love, and acceptance. Donna Hart, PhD, listed here on Heart2Heart Counselor Directory, helps us think through what we value most. Her article first appeared here on her website and is used with permission. (Edited for length –LAM)
If you had to write down your dream for a happy life, what would you write? What would be your “if onlys”? How would you complete the sentence, “God, if you gave me this…then I could be happy”?
The events that occur in John 6 open our eyes to a clash that is going on between what people think “a happy life” should look like and how God might define it. In the account Jesus takes a little boy’s lunch and turns it into a meal for 5,000 people with 12 baskets of food left over.
The talk among the happy people must have been buzzing. “This is it,” they probably surmised. “He is the Messiah! He is the One we must make him king! And then we’ll be happy.”
A Curious Conversation
But Jesus doesn’t play their game. He withdraws and goes to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. In John 6:25 the people catch up with him and a curious conversation ensues. They ask, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus responds,
Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.
The people ask what they must do to do the work of God. Jesus replies, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
“Give Us a Sign!”
They wonder what sign he will give them so that they would believe. Jesus responds,
Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
The people ask that they could have that bread. Jesus then responds,
I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.
Clearly, the people were not getting the point; the physical blessing of bread was pointing to a much deeper spiritual reality. The people were not pursuing Christ out of a humble willingness to follow him as the Messiah. Instead, they were pursuing him for selfish gain and a hope that he would be the One who met their felt needs, their happy place.
Do You Want What God Wants?
What do you want from Christ? Whose dream are you bringing to Him? Is your dream nothing more than a happy life of ease?
1 Peter 1:3-5 gives us an understanding of what we have been given in Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Do we understand what we have been given? We have been chosen to be saved by God’s mercy. Our sins have been forgiven. We are a part of God’s family and have an inheritance waiting for us. Yet how often do we grumble, “That’s wonderful, but what about now?”
Let’s get a bigger picture of God’s goal and vision for us! Click & Tweet!
The message from God is that he is producing in us something greater, fuller, and deeper: a genuine faith.
Truly Abundantly Happy Life!
The blessings that God gives us are meant to point to a deeper and much fuller blessing, the blessing of the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. Abundant life is not our relationships with husbands, wives, significant others, or children. It is not what we own or our jobs.
Abundant life is Jesus Himself; He is abundant life. Click & Tweet!
Jesus says that He is the bread of life. What kind of bread do we hunger for and feed on? Do we sometimes find ourselves acting like the people in John 6 who pursued Jesus only for the bread and fish? We can be coming to Jesus because we are holding on to our dreams and hoping somehow Jesus will help us achieve them.
If we are living for earthly bread, then we are going to be disappointed when we don‘t get it. But if we are living for a deeper communion with God, then all our relationships will become a place to live out that communion. And, yes, we’ll be truly happy.
Counseling Hearts to Hope,
