The Key to Happiness

 "Not that I speak in respect of want: For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound: Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need, for I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" PH 4:11-13

CS Lewis wrote, I believe in The Screwtape Letters, that nearly everyone has put their happiness either in the past, looking back to what they used to have, but no longer experience, or in the future, when, at last, all the conditions that make their life miserable will finally be resolved. Almost no one is happy in the present moment, the only moment we will ever have. "The past in gone, tomorrow may never come". 

Paul, writing to the Phillipians, says this reasoning is hogwash. "In whatsoever state I am " . . .  He is content during good times, like teaching 3 years in Ephesus at the School of Tyrannus. But he is also content in times of turmoil (2 Corinthians 11:25). How? The same way Jesus did at Gethsemane. "We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and set down at the right hand of the throne of God" Hebrews 12:2. Simply put, Jesus, and now Paul, knew that whatever suffering, whatever discomfort, whatever circumstance they would be facing, would pale in comparison to the reward BEYOND. (Rom 8:18). 

Those who would come after Jesus are invited to "Deny yourself, pick up your cross, and follow me". On the face of it, this looks rather uninviting, especially in a "selfie"culture that values happiness of the individual above all else. How could anyone be happy if they refuse that which makes them happy? I believe, however, that Jesus call for denial of self is more radical than simply not doing what you want to do, or doing what you don't want to do (Romans 7). Indeed, even this is an expression of one's will. Such religious activity may look like denial of self, but in reality it is no such thing. No, Jesus' call here is for an abandonment of trust in one's self. Picking up the cross is only possible when, trusting fully in Him, we are able to endure the present suffering in light of the reward beyond. Let us press on into this joy.