Happiness...

Many times we mistakenly think that God is a god of happiness. That unless we are happy, then something must be wrong. This shows that the root of happiness in our lives can be a comparison of our situation with the situations of others.

We have become a hedonistic society - borne out of freedom - the major downside to the principle of 'the pursuit of happiness' as defined in the Declaration of Independence. When one pursues happiness rather than God - one will base that happiness on externals.

True joy comes from true freedom - not the freedom of personal happiness, but the freedom of Grace.

There is much confusion between these two. Those without personal freedoms covet those who have them, and those who have personal freedoms say they are not truly free (therefore not happy) because life has dealt them a bad blow here... or there... "if only this hadn't have happened..." They live in the past.

True freedom begets true joy, and is rooted in the Person of Jesus and the concept of His infinite Grace. Once one places his faith there, no matter the trial, his freedom and joy is secure, no matter his particular jail cell.