Seeking Righteousness

Don't worry, be happy.

Yes, I might be showing my age, but when I was younger, this song was popular.  Bobby McFerrin, the song's writer and performer, had a wide and varying career.  However, he will forever be remembered for that song.

Why?

Because, deep down, as Americans and as human beings, we just want to be happy.

Don't believe me?  Look at any commercial on television.  All of them have the exact same message:  buying this product will make your happier.  This new car is what you need to be happy.  You need a new kitchen appliance to make you happy.  You're pet needs a new toy so he (and conversely you) can be happy.

Happy sells.  No one wants to be unhappy.  We have terms for people like that.  We call them "party poopers."

Yet, Jesus tells us that pursuing happiness - despite what commercials, businesses and culture tell you - is not the point of life.  He clearly states in Matthew 5:6 that we should "hunger and thirst for righteousness."

In other words, we should desire to be like Jesus.  We should desire to spend time with him and emulate him.  THEN, we will be satisfied.

Pursuing happiness will never leave you satisfied.  It will leaving you wanting more.  As soon as you have something that makes you happy, something else will come out that makes you happiness obsolete.  A new car is only new until you have for a couple of months.  A new house becomes lived in quite quickly.  New technology is old the minute you start using it.

Seeking happiness ends with continual disappointment.  It leads you to always seeking more.

Christ promises to satisfy you.  When you thirst for him, he quenches your soul.  When you hunger for his presence, he overflows your plate. 

What are you seeking to satisfy your hunger and thirst?  What do you desire most of all?

If you want to be happy, then don't worry, just pretend and buy the latest and greatest gadget.

If you want to be satisfied, seek Jesus Christ and his righteousness.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devotion to a false god

Image
Last week, at Disney World, I went to retrieve our stroller from the stroller parking section.  As I searched among the hundred or so strollers, I finally found mine and started to move it.  As I pulled, it snagged on a woman's garment.  Panicked, I looked up and saw it was a Muslim women in full Muslin dress.  Her body was completely covered.  Only a slit for her eyes was visible.  I was careful not to yank, and I tried to apologize as the hook of the handle caught part of her garment.  She didn't say a word and we both quietly went on our ways. As I walked away, I felt pity on her.  For one, it's Disney World in June in Florida.  I strode along in shorts and a very thin T-shirt.  Both were soaked in sweat.  I had already consumed two bottles of water and still felt weary.  She was dressed head to toe in heavy garments.  I can't imagine how hot she was pushing a stroller with two kids through a mass of people in humid air and on hot pavement. Secondly, she dres
Read more

Time for an examination

Image
For my seminary class on counseling, I had to read a book about anxiety and worry.  In the book, the author, Archibald Hart, made the case that sometimes worry can be good. He gave the example of worrying about an illness - in the case a spot on the skin that could be cancerous.  Since skin cancer is a very real, and deadly, possibility, your worrying about it should spurn you to have it examined.  In that case, it's a healthy form of worrying.  It's more natural concern than worry, even when we dwell on it.  It's our brain's mechanism to check out anomalous things. For me, Matthew 7:21-23 is one of those "spots" you need to worry about.  In the passage, Jesus says many people who drive out demons, preach, teach and do miracles will not gain access into the Kingdom of Heaven.  They'll have all the outward signs of a believer but have no real, genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. That's a very scary proposition.  It addresses those of us who
Read more

Only the Beginning

Image
Death is not the end. What a wonderful thought and phrase. For a Christian, we know that separation at death is only a temporary parting until we see one another in heaven again. More than that, we know that at death, the soul departs the body and enters heaven and the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That became very real to me this week. My Grandpa died. He had been fighting cancer and dementia for many years. The battle took it's toll. He couldn't get out of bed. He hallucinated about people and objects there were not there. His personality changed. As other diseases progressed, he lost his sight. He was a shell of the vibrant person he once was. So when I got the call early Monday morning that he had passed during the night, I wasn't sad. I was relieved. I knew he was in a better place with a new body and a perfect mind in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He could walk and run and see clearly. He was no longer limited by a body of death. Paul knew
Read more