on being happy

We should gladly accept good things when they come, but don’t let them make you forget where the fountain of happiness is.

Good things, good people, good jobs, good moments come and go. If they don’t go they will change. And during that change they will definitely disappoint you along the way.

The Bible teaches us not for nothing to love God with all our being and to be devoted to him alone, and to never forget Jesus’ words, his love and his actions. Right there we have a solid track record of God’s unchanging love for his people, through the promise to Abraham, through the Passover, through the wickedness of Israel’s kings, through the prophets and the Exile, and through Christ himself.

Jesus lives up to the promise that no one who trusts him will be ashamed of it, and that he will never turn his back on us. The Bible tells us so.

That should give us courage and make us happy. It often doesn’t, because we are weak and we like to find other things to make us happy. But that doesn’t change God’s faithfulness to us and his delight in us.

And that fact should also give us courage and make us happy.