This video is dangerous on so many levels. Warning, this is a very very very long post... so maybe only one person will read this... watch video first, only 30 seconds. First it will be seen from non-believers as one more reason to not be a Christian when many Christians label it as heresy and denounce a fellow Christian. After all.. they will say, who are you to say this person is not a true Christian? And on one level they would be right. Second, the video starts with a ...so statement. Implying we are not given the full context of her statement. Therefore, we shouldnt judge it. So I will respond this way. I couldnt disagree more with the statement as it has been presented here. I can not think of one reason to say a statement such as this in front of anyone, much less a large group unless to say that this is an example of how a man tries to make a god that fits his own definition. So to be clear... according to the scripture, God desires obedience, not sacrifice (that we make to make ourselves feel like better people and therefore more acceptable to God.) Hosea 6:6. In context, these people did exactly what this woman is describing... making themselves happy and assuaging their guilt by changing their perception of what God expected. So to be clear I will not say, like many others that God doesnt want to make you happy. But I think its stronger than happiness. I think its JOY. But there needs to be something added to her statement. God can make you happy. Yes. Id agree. Does God delight when we are happy? I dont know... if the happiness is that I stole from someone so that I could feed my family, so I am happy that I fed my family, is God happy that I sinned? This is troubling and opens up to a bunch of ethics related topics which gets people into further divisiveness and scorn while driving onlookers farther and farther away! So how do I respond? Can God make me happy? Yes. Does God want me to be happy? That depends on your definition... so I would say..it is not His greatest joy for you to be happy. It is His greatest joy to make you Holy. Happiness comes from happenings. What happens to you and your corresponding emotions. Holiness/righteousness (right standing before God), is only obtained by placing trust for your life, your everyday life here on earth, moment by moment and decision by decision, as well as our eternal destiny, in the fact that Jesus Christ took the punishment for your own individual sins, and died. Three days later He arose, alive, and appeared to many real individuals, and a short time later ascended into heaven. And one day, He is coming...to judge the world, not according to their standard of who He is, but according to their recognition of Him, as being God and Lord...not of the world (although he is). Not of creation (although he is that too). But according to their recognition of Him, in their own personal lives. And to some, the creator, who created all men, will ultimately and ironically say,away from me, I never knew you. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldnt worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. (Romans 1:21 NLT) Scripture never describes God as happy happy happy and I see nowhere in scripture where God desires for us to work attempt to make Him happy. Whether that is by means of pleasing him or pleasing ourselves. However the Bible does teach that He is, Holy, Holy, Holy, and that we are to acknowledge His holiness, righteousness, magnificence. Why? You may ask. Not to make Him happy...but because it is a certain reality. It is acknowledgement of truth. And quite simply, He is worthy of it. This video says obey God to make ourselves happy. But if Happiness is a good thing.... then James says that every good thing comes from above, coming down from the Father of Lights (God). So even then, using this logic, is it us making us happy, or Him? So while God may take some delight in knowing we had something that happened today that made us happy, He takes greater delight in us being made Holy through a relationship with Him. So in the spirit of unity I do not declare the lady to be a heretic but instead say that i view this video, as seen in this format, as a false teaching that is not Biblical. Do I suppose Paul was obeying out of making himself happy when He was beaten, flogged, imprisoned, and worse? Do I suppose Daniel was obeying to make himself happy as he knelt to pray, and as a result got thrown in a den with lions? Do I suppose that Christ obeyed his father out of His own happiness, to go be beaten and die on a cross? Do I suppose that I should obey God to make myself happy, even when obedience means that I will lose friends or a job or relationships with family members? No. I dont obey to make myself happy anymore than a teenager obeys me when I tell him to mow the lawn in 100 degree weather, because it makes Him happy. No. He obeys, even if it doesnt make him happy. Happiness, I should say, isnt necessarily from God. But Joy is. One isnt happy when a loved one dies, but can have Joy when they think that that person is in Heaven with Jesus. Joy can come in times of provision and times of persecution. Joy can come in times of turmoil and times of trials. Jesus did not obey God to make himself happy. Jesus obeyed the Father and God gave him joy, even while carrying the cross. I close with these 2 verses and a prayer for us all.. notice the all caps for emphasis on the verse. Joy. Endured. Shame. Humbled. Obedient. These are words that I typically do not associate with making myself happy. How about you? Hebrews 12:2 let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfect or of our faith, who for the JOY set before him, ENDURED the cross, scorning its SHAME, and sat down at the right hand of the thrown of God. and Being found in appearance as a man, he HUMBLED himself, and became OBEDIENT to death, even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:8 NIV) So maybe not to correct this video, but to finish it..maybe she finished it with something like, Father....may our worship not be about our happiness, but instead be about the joy we receive in being Holy, obedient children. Thank you, God, for the Joy that only you can provide through your Son....amen. -jg
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 02:44:06 +0000
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