A tractor, chef, and markers!

Today I was called and told that one of the ladies in our church was out at our church property on the tractor mowing.  This was a big deal for this lady is our church chef!  I flew out of my desk chair with my phone in pocket to drive out and get a picture of this event.  She can cook!  And I learned today that, even with it being her first time, she can mow with a trim mower on a tractor.  I have been driving tractors for over 40 years.  I was blown away with her new discovered ability to cut grass - and even get the corners!

After I took the picture, we talked for a while and she said something that really got me thinking.  I mentioned how she was cutting even the grass on the corners.  She described her quickly learned lesson.  She lined the ornament on the front of the tractor to outside of the yet to be cut area and thus, she cut all the grass.  Nothing was left standing.  You need to realize that she was doing this with a trim mower - smaller than a bush hog.  Once she realized that grass was being missed, she adjusted!

Is this not the way markers work in our lives.  We track along in our journey looking back to see what we missed.  If only we would realize that it is the markers in front of us that must be lined up.  They prevent and thus help to avoid the need to look back.  When our markers are right, our lives are on the path with nothing left out.  We experience the full reality with no turning around and going back to get something we missed.

Peter said it this way:

2 Pet 3:11-18
11    Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
12    looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
13    Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
14    Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless;
15    and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation-- as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you,
16    as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
17    You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked;
18    but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
(NKJ)

We need markers in our lives.  Have you lined your markers up recently.  The things we are reminded of when a church chef gets on a tractor!

Does Jesus Want ME to be HAPPY?

I like HAPPY!  In fact I like being HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!  Who wouldn't?  So does Jesus want me to be happy?  Does Jesus care about my happiness so much that His ultimate desire for me is tied to my happiness?

Trends come and go.  But one trend that I have noticed over the past few years does not seem to be fading.  I cannot keep track of how many times I have heard and read that Jesus wants me to be happy!  An example of this is a post on Facebook that I recently saw showing a picture of a Bible open to the passage about being a new creature in II Cor 5:17 - this part was highlighted, and then it showed a note that read as follows:

"God loves us too much to allow us to stay tied to anyone or anything that does not bring out the best in us!"

The note sounds great!  But is it Biblically accurate?  It sure fits with the trending ideas of many people today.  Here is the thought process that leads to this concept.  Since Jesus so loves me and knows me, His desire more than anything is for my happiness.  This concept is seen in how many people view their relationships with parents, grand parents, spouses, and children.  God wants me to be happy.  So all things must work towards this goal being achieved.  Right?  If my marriage does not make me happy, end it.  If my children are constantly complaining, give in to their wants.  If my church convicts, change it or leave.  The Bible is simply a guide with my happiness being the motive for how I interpret it.  Right?

Not so fast.  God has a key ingredient that He desires in us far more than happiness.  This ingredient in fact will often produce things that initially do NOT make us happy.  What is it?

Obedience

God desires our obedience above all.  Dieing to self and living surrendered to His will is far more important than our happiness.  Why?  As individuals our happiness is never satisfied and is constantly in a state of change.  The flesh - the old man - does not know what it truly wants.  We see this lived out in the life of children today.

As a parent, it is always a struggle to resist making my children happy.  The more you try, the more you fail.  We learned quickly that playing the Happy Game would lead to spoiled out of control children.  We also realized that those out of control children would end up spoiled undisciplined adults.  This we did not desire.  Obedience and self control are difficult to teach but they are a must.  It has not alwaysbeen easy but it is more than worth the struggle! 

When we apply obedience to God and controlling our perceived wants by deferring to His will, the working within us is PEACE.  This peace produces joy.  Happiness may come, but it is not immediate if at all.  Why?  Because the old flesh will continue to wrestle against the new creation.  Even the Apostle fought this fight daily.

We must not forget that the Will of God will never contradict the Word of God.  Thus happiness is always sacrificed for the Will of God.

That is why Paul shared the following with the Phillippians:

Phil 4:11-13
11    Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
12    I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
13    I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
(NKJ)

And so is the irony.  While everyone from Duck Dynasty to Dolly Wood emphasis being happy, God is on a different page working for our eternal good.  He knows our happiness is more often than not working against His best for us.  He is working His Will in which can be found PEACE!  Peace with God, and peace with people around us!

Now the question, does this make you HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY?