Bible
Study: Baruch 4, 5 to 12, 27 to 29. And Luke 10, 17
to 24.
The
deepest desire of any human being is JOY. We are always in search of what we
think would increase our Joy in life, we just want to be happy. The longing for
happiness and the restlessness caused by its absence is the summary of man’s
entire activities on earth.
If we can
just find a way to grasp happiness once and for all and hold it forever, never
losing it even for a second, we would be totally fulfilled human beings. However,
the more we seek to find this joy in our hearts, the more it remains an enigma
to us.
Have you
considered what the Bible says about happiness? How we can find it and make it
ours permanently? Today’s first reading from the prophet Baruch is one of the
many places where the Bible exposes the secret truth about human happiness. It says:
“As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the
more to seek him; For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you,
bring you back enduring joy.” Baruch 4, 28 to 29.
The truth
cannot be more than this: ONLY GOD HAS WHAT IT TAKES TO REALLY MAKE US HAPPY. Only
God, who created us has the key to our happiness. “Our hearts are restless”,
says St. Augustine, “until they rest in God.” Baruch says, the reason for our
sadness, misery and pain is because we turned our backs on God and refused
worship him wholeheartedly. In this 21st century, we have turned to
other gods (immorality, wild passions, materialism, corruption, etc.), in
search of that which only God can give us.
We give so
little time to God, yet we sacrifice every minute of our time to things we
assume bring us joy. We are so glued to our phones and technological gadgets
and we become addicted to looking for entertainment at all costs. What we do
not realise is that our inner restlessness is not as a result of a lack of
things that provide us relaxation but a lack of connection with the Divine.
Even though
we gather all the pleasurable things in the world, even though we make all the
money in the world, even though we become the most powerful persons in the
world, we would still be terribly UNHAPPY if we lack that connection with God. The
best we can ever get, away from God, is a tickling of our senses, an ignition
of our erogenous regions and a return to our animalistic nature, but as to genuine
happiness, No Way!.
True joy
is connection with God. See how the seventy-two disciples of Jesus came back in
today’s Gospel passage to give a report of their exploits. They were really
happy and hear what Jesus says to them: “Do not rejoice in this, that the
spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Luke 10, verse 20.
Nothing should
or can bring you greater happiness than knowing that based on your lifestyle on
earth, your name is written in heaven. What is the point of our all struggles here
on earth if at the end of it all, we are not certain whether or not we would
rest peacefully in heaven? What else can bring greater happiness than spending
quality time before God in prayer and having a deep sense of peace and inner
calmness?
Dear friends,
being a spiritual person is not all about carrying long faces or looking like
people from another world, being a spiritual person is about finding and
holding on to true happiness! The happiness that the world and all its glamour
cannot dare to provide. Being a spiritual person is keeping your heart clean
enough to inhabit Jesus himself, the Prince of Peace. Being a spiritual person
is living in Joy – a joy that allows God to be number in all your actions – a joy
that is sinless and spotless – a childlike joy that is not trying to acquire all
the things in this world but is ever content and satisfied with the one thing
it has which is God.
Let us
pray:
Lord
Jesus, I thank you for revealing to me today the secret of true happiness. I repent
and renounce every behaviour of mine that has so far kept me fixed on sadness
and misery. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. With lots of smiles, I
say, do have a great weekend.
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