Lost in a Temporary World
Have you ever been so into watching a movie or TV series you forgot about the ‘real world’ for a while? I suppose that’s part of the appeal. For a period of time we can get so lost in what’s happening on the other side of a screen, we forget about the duties and challenges we’ll face when we’re done. Or maybe we’ll watch another episode.
First Thing Happiness
In his book, A Different Kind of Happiness,[1] Larry Crabb awakens us to the fact that we’re all part of an eternal reality which supersedes what goes on before our eyes. This larger story, orchestrated by God, will not be thwarted. Crabb calls us to stop focusing on the temporary world and our endless pursuit of happiness. He calls this kind of circumstantial happiness – second thing happiness.
Rather he urges us to travel the narrow road of seeking what he calls first thing happiness or joy. First thing happiness is unaffected by how our lives are going because it flows from God’s larger story. He says loving like Jesus is what keeps us in the flow of God’s greater purposes.
“Loving like Jesus, self-sacrificially and not self protectively, produces first thing happiness.”[2]
Loving Like Jesus
The night before He was crucified, Jesus demonstrated His love by washing the disciples’ feet, a duty typically done by the servants of the house. Jesus even washed the feet of Judas and Peter, whom He knew would betray and deny Him. Later that same night, He gave one command, which if we obey it, will keep us in His love and complete our joy.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you (John 15:9-12 NIV).
There are amazing facts in these verses:
- Jesus loves us as much as God loves Him (Verse 9)
- Jesus commands us to remain in His love, then he tells us how (Verse 9, 10,12)
- Jesus says if we love others as He’s loved us, we’ll remain in His love (Verses 10,12)
- Jesus says these things to give us His Joy and to make our joy complete (Verse 11)
In Summary
If we love others sacrificially, as Jesus has loved us, we’ll experience His joy, a joy not based on circumstances, a joy fueled by His love.
Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2b NASB).
As Crabb puts it:[3]
- Determine to walk life on the narrow road, not focusing on temporary happiness.
- Live your life in the larger story of what God’s doing
- Engage the battle for a better love, loving as Jesus has loved us
- Look at life from above the sun, not from under the sun
The way Paul states this last point is: Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory (Colossians 3:1-4 NASB).
See II Corinthian 4:16-18 for another great example of living in God’s larger story.
Personal Experience
These rhythms of focusing on God’s eternal story and not being so concerned with my own happiness has been a real paradigm shift in my life. I have a long way to go, but the shift is gaining traction. What helps is when my focus and prayer of the day is, Lord, who do you want to love through me today?
Throughout these days I can be tempted to leave this focus and go back to fighting for smooth circumstances and pleasant moments. However, when, by the abiding Holy Spirit, I keep the duties as the second thing and focus on the people, the results are most encouraging.
Through this evolving process, trusting in God’s sovereignty and His greater purposes produces growing hope and joy, even during personal difficulties.
And, not having to fight for own my happiness is extremely freeing.
As this new journey on the narrow road unfolds, the duties are not the main thing, but the pathways to the people God wants to love through me. The difficulties bring me into the flow of God’s larger story of freeing every human heart to find satisfaction and contentment in Christ alone.
[1]Larry Crabb, A Different Kind of Happiness (Baker Books, 2016)
[2] Ibid, p 21
[3] Ibid, p 222
Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
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