The Lifestyle of Jesus & The Happiness Paradox- Purity 1700
Purity 1700 07/03/2025 Purity 1700 Audio Podcast
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Good morning,
Today’s photo of the wind and sea eroded peaks of earth on the shores of Lake Ontario comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene while hiking along the red, “Bluffs” Trail at Chimney Bluffs State Park in Wolcott NY on Sunday.
Well, It’s Thursday, and while I deviated from my normal Thursday tradition of sharing a pathway photo – to visually represent and to encourage us to get on or to stay on the path of Christian Discipleship – , I feel that I am staying true to the spirit of it – by sharing the products of taking to those pathways. In fact all of the photos, that I share are to be taken as an encouragement to open our eyes to the beauty of God’s creation that is all around us and to encourage us all to enjoy the lives that God has given us as a continual act of worship. So today’s photo doesn’t literally show the pathway I was walking on but it is the result of my decision to take to that pathway.
In my blog, I encourage people to walk out their Christian faith as a lifestyle and while I can’t adequately give you a step by step set of instructions of how to live life in the Spirit, I can try to share what its like to do so and point to the beautiful things we may see along the way as we try to imitate the lifestyle of Jesus.
I tend to point to the peace and the joy that walking in the Spirit results in but I hope it is understand that it may some time to experience those fruit of the Spirit and the circumstances of life may challenge us to not lose our peace or joy as we walk through life. The path of Christian Discipleship is not a happiness quest, it’s a truth and purpose quest – the peace and joy are just byproducts of being connected to God and following Him to the next adventure on our life’s journey to His eternal kingdom.
Speaking of happiness and the spiritual life, the Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah devotion for today addresses the “happiness paradox” and so I am sharing it on the blog today to share the good doctor’s prescription for “happiness, joy, and cheerfulness”. David Jeremiah writes:
“THE HAPPINESS PARADOX
Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord. – Psalm 89:15 (NLT)
“Science Daily released a report stating what many people already knew: Trying to be happy makes us unhappy. The phenomenon is called the “happiness paradox.”1 Chasing happiness leads to exhaustion and disappointment. The Bible indicates that happiness, joy, and cheerfulness are byproducts of spiritual living.
Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians while imprisoned in Rome. He may have composed his letter under house arrest in his own rented home (Acts 28:30-31), or perhaps he had been moved to a cell closer to the courtroom where his case was heard. In any event, Paul seemed upbeat, cheerful, productive, and undisturbed by his circumstances. He mentioned joy and rejoicing over and over in Philippians. Paul heard the joyful call to worship and was walking in the light of God’s presence.
Today, worship our Savior, and rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 3:1).” – David Jeremiah
God is the only source of real happiness. He does not need anything or anyone to make him happy; even before he made the world, the three persons of the Trinity were completely happy with each other. What God does for Christians is to make them as happy as he is. – Jeremiah Burroughs
Amen. The happiness paradox! The more we seek happiness through the things of this world, the more likely we will become unhappy! we have scientific evidence that supports the truth that happiness doesn’t come from this world (truth) or perhaps it also has to do with our perspective and expectations (that we have to create happiness or make ourselves happy – and that if we keep searching or working for it we will find it).
Either way, David Jeremiah’s devotion for today encourages us to seek the joy that comes from spiritual living – of living our lives in a way (with spiritual practices) that will help us to be connected to God relationally. When we are connected to The Source of love, goodness, truth, and joy, we experience peace and true happiness.
I am currently reading John Mark Comers’ “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” (highly recommend) in which he echoes Jeremiah’s recommendation by telling us that the way to navigate through this hard life is to live the same lifestyle that Jesus did – to not just do spiritual exercises here and there but to learn “the secret of the easy yoke” by turning from our normal ways of doing things to follow Jesus’ way as a lifestyle.
I particularly like the way, Comer is straightforward in telling us that life is hard- period. He doesn’t try to sell the Jesus Way as a means to instant happiness – but instead states that following Jesus will make the burden of living lighter.
Not all pain and suffering will instantly disappear if we walk the Jesus Way, but the load we carry will be lighter and I know, from experience, that the further you go, the more you will experience the fruit of the Spirit growing in your life.
Stop trying to find happiness or make it for yourself, instead, consider taking Jesus’ invitation to follow Him and letting Him help to carry you through the burdens of this life with an abiding sense of peace and joy.
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For those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide, I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/.
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Today’s Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By John G. Kruis.
(While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick Google search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s work. (The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling By John G. Kruis on Amazon )
This morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Overcoming Evil – How to Handle It When Others Wrong You.
Proverbs 20:22 (ESV) Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.
Today’s verse is the third of three passages of scripture that fall under the sixth point of our counseling reference guide resource section on Overcoming Evil – How to Handle It When Others Wrong You.
6. Do not seek revenge.
Today’s Bible verse instructs us to wait for the Lord to deliver us from evil and to repay o those who offend us.
Today is the third verse from scripture that tell us not to seek revenge, and I hope the lesson has been learned because I understand how angry we can become when someone betrays us or harms us our loved ones,
Without naming names, I can think of several people who not only injured me in the past but who also seemed to take delight in causing me pain and anguish and who also like to prolong that pain for as long as possible. The anger and bitterness this treatment caused could have easily led me to lash out in a fit of violent revenge that could have led to murder and forever changing my life and the lives of the parties involved. At times I even fantasied about serving up a cold dish of revenge to pay back those who have hurt me in various seasons of my life. My revenge fantasies were always short sighted of course. I could think up the perfect revenge scenarios or perfect murder plots to take justice in my own hands, but they never really considered the aftermath that would result in the wake of unbridled wrath.
Thankfully, the Lord put the fear of incarceration, death, or discovery into me before I came to Christ, and put the fear of God and the wisdom of forgiveness in me afterwards. Fear of man kept me from murderous revenge before, and now the fear and the love of God has shown me the truth about sin and the wisdom of letting God deal with my offenses.
Those who hurt me deserve pay back, but so have I. I wasn’t always a biblical scholar and a born-again saint. I have done things that could have caught me a whipping from man and that would have rightly led to death and consignment to hell according to God’s word. So in light of God’s forgiveness for me, I have learned to forgive others from their debts against me and have found the peace of knowing the God will settle all accounts in His timing. People will receive mercy and forgiveness through faith in Jesus, or they will pay for all their sins through the wrath of God.
I don’t have to worry or concern myself with the sins of the world – that God’s job – He will repay those who don’t repent and put their faith in Jesus.
And as for me, I will encourage as many people as I can to find forgiveness and life through the grace of God and faith in Jesus Christ. And I will wait on the Lord to repay evil and deliver me from any thoughts of revenge.
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.com where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from “Day by Day Along the Way” By Jay E. Adams.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes and encourage you all to purchase Adams’ books for your own private study and to support the late author’s work. This resource is available online for less than $20 at many sites.
Day 199
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too. – Luke 12:34
This is a general maxim having many applications in life. It is true of one’s treasure—is it material, earthy, or is it heavenly, spiritual? Whatever one considers a treasure is where his concerns in life will be focused. The treasure may be a job, a person, fame, power, and so on. You can readily discover what a person’s “treasure” is by watching how he spends his time, what he spends his money upon, and what is the major topic of his discussion. Examine your own life in this way. You may be surprised to learn what you consider your “treasure.” A man so wrapped up in his job, that he has no time for the things of the Lord, needs to rethink his values. A woman whose life revolves around her children and has little concern for others also needs a new focus. Are you deceiving yourself? It isn’t what you “say” is your treasure, but what you demonstrate by your life. Think deeply about this matter. Doing so may lead to reevaluation of what is most important to you. If you have never done so, it may be time to do it. Indeed, today may be the day for you to begin seriously considering what Christianity is all about.[1]
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[1] Jay E. Adams, Day by Day along the Way (Cordova, TN: Institute for Nouthetic Studies, 2020), 207.
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