peace and happiness...and where to find them

7/20/2020

I have been reading a lot lately about behavior...especially and particularly as it applies to me; Marty the Christ-follower. It got me to thinking deeply about the things in life that I look to and sacrifice for in the pursuit of personal Peace and Happiness. Then I ran into this quote from C. S. Lewis in his book, "Mere Christianity."
Quote: “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.”
Mere Christianity (1952)
What do you think about this quote? We all spend time and energy in one way or another to find Happiness and Peace in our lives...that's for certain. We work, study, pray, seek, train, exercise, ask, bargain, search...but often, (and I'm finding this to be truth more and more as I go through life) any kind of Peace and Happiness that the world has to offer can be very hard to find; and even harder to hold on to.
C. S. Lewis offers this...that there is really no such thing as peace and Happiness...apart from God Himself. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this! What are some of the ways that you, or others, seek peace and happiness? Can they really be found apart from God Himself? And what is it about God...that makes these possible only through a relationship with Him? Blessings my young friends! What say you?
MartyG

12 Comments

Joshua Wu

7/20/2020 07:45:50 pm

First of all, as we have been reading Pastor Chuck’s books, he talked about grace and peace. He showed how we can’t have peace without grace which comes from God so therefore to fully have peace is from the Lord. Paul started and ended his letters with using grace and peace to bless the church.
Ephesians 1:2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 6:23-24: 23 Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
Peter and John also started with them in his letters.

7/20/2020 08:27:57 pm

Second of all, we need God to truly have happiness. The so-called “happiness” Satan gives us immorally, deceives us from the love of God that gives us true happiness in him. The good things in this world are from the Lord “for everything [he] made is good” 1 Timothy 4:4. Ecclesiastes 24-26 “...This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. for without him,”.
So we can find true peace and happiness in God only.

Marty Gresham

7/20/2020 08:35:32 pm

Hey Joshua...man I love your answers! What a great response brother! What do you think of when you think "happiness?" How would you describe happiness in your own life?
MartyG

7/20/2020 08:44:54 pm

“Happiness” would be things like anything that tempts us that is not pleasing to God like gossip, gluttony, and being lazy. God gives me happiness through the company and conversations of fellow Christians because they help me learn more about him. It makes me happy to discover more about how God really is so gracious to us and how I should live my life for him with love. Also cats that God designed of course! 🐈

Brooke Wu

7/21/2020 10:20:53 am

“Happiness” doesn’t last very long. Sure you’ll have some fun but it won’t be everlasting like the happiness we find in God. Just knowing that He’s there with me and is looking over me makes me happy. Sharing our thoughts on the Bible makes me happy too.
Learning more and more about him because we can always learn something new about Him.

7/21/2020 10:41:44 am

Thanks Brooke! Tell us something that you have learned about God or the Bible recently. Make us happy! :-)

7/21/2020 03:36:31 pm

Haha sure. I love Pastor Chuck’s example in the book we’re reading. He says when a child learns how to walk but falls down, the father says he’ll disown the child. But God is the opposite. He says that he’ll pick us up again and say, “try again.”

7/21/2020 04:27:26 pm

I love examples that have a father and a child. The child stumbles and falls but the father picks the child up.

7/21/2020 05:56:09 pm

Great example Brooke. How sweet to get to know our Father's love...and how His grace, love, and peace are all tied into our happiness. Blessings!
MartyG

Hannah

7/21/2020 02:42:46 pm

Basically, you cannot have true happiness or peace without God. Without Him, nothing has meaning. First, to have peace, you must have grace—which means believing and trusting in God—therefore you need God to have peace (and grace). Secondly, true happiness comes from the peace you get from God. Because you have peace, you are full of the joy of the Lord—which also contributes to being truly happy.

7/21/2020 02:49:56 pm

We cannot have true happiness from worldly things, such as food, adultery, drinking, smoking and other things. There is only ONE way to have true happiness and it comes from the Almighty God. All we need to do is:
-believe and trust (Which equals grace)
-after grace comes the peace of God
-once you have peace, you will be filled with joy
-and happiness comes from continuing in God’s word!

7/21/2020 05:54:30 pm

Great response Hannah...and what a clear picture you have of the grace/peace/happiness connection for all of us who are in Christ. Thanks for giving me some more to think and pray about. Blessings!
MartyG

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peace and happiness...and where to find them

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