Health, Happiness, and Holiness

I’ve been so challenged lately by not defining success by the world’s terms. Every place I turn seems to tell me that I’m chasing the wrong thing. When I look at all of these people around me, I feel like I’m not as successful as them and don’t have much to show for myself. I’ve been bombarded with this lie constantly, but God was and is faithful in reminding me of why I was created.

 Here it is: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Matthew 22:37

When I have this mindset of “not feeling like I have much to show for myself”, do my intentions show that I am loving the Lord or loving Christina?  The truth behind this lie is that when I’m feeling this way, it’s a result of me trying to promote myself instead of God. I want people to see me and all of my accomplishments, when in reality, I have nothing good to stand on.  If I were to live like I believe the gospel, I would live in such a way that only wants to glorify God because He is good and I am sinful, and because being aware of my sin I know that it is far better that He be praised for His Holiness than I for my failures.

The second important truth that I’ve learned has to do with what we deserve. Here’s a little example to illustrate what I’m talking about. The other day, I woke up sick the morning of my final. I was very confused because I just could not understand why I was sick when God was supposed to keep me healthy, especially for my test. I actually couldn’t have been more wrong. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God wants us to be healthy or happy. He wants us to be Holy. (See 1 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 2:9). God does not want us to be more comfortable, He wants us to be more like Him. I think the trap that I (and maybe more people than I realize) fall into is that comfort and holiness do not go hand in hand. If we base our existence as a Christ-follower off of “God’s plan of comfort for us”, we will be severely disappointed when we look at our lives compared to those around us. But if we are looking towards holiness, we will understand that we are indeed blessed.

   To sum up this past week, I was disappointed time and time again when I felt like I didn’t get the things that I deserved. But here’s the thing… God never promises any of those things that we feel we deserve. Instead, he gives us the one thing we do not deserve, Jesus.