If You're Happy and You Know It....

Read James 1:1-17

You know the song. "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands."
How about this?
"If you're happy and you know it, pinch your thigh"? OR "If you're happy and you know it, twist your nose."
Ouch! What on earth?!
I read a quote in a Billy Graham book the other evening that made me think on a deeper level. It was about happiness.
The quote was from King George V and it said, "Happiness is not doing what you like to do. It is finding you like what you do not have to do. "
Here is a valid example. I hate to exercise. Haaaate it. Yes, the extra "a's" are there for a reason. Read it again. But my tummy was getting wobbly. My gut was protruding. The rolls were looking like the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Get the picture? Good.
Anyhow, I knew I had to work out. So what do I do? I get a video of the most difficult exercise trainer in the universe. I can do this. I get to end of the "warm-up" and fall on the floor. This woman is a wacko. (Yes I said wacko in a devotional). I then get up and try to do more. I then collapse on my couch and sob. I will just keep growing. I will just inflate to look like Michelin Man. Why not? I can't do this. I don't like to do this!
Know what?
I did it anyhow.
I have not lost a gazillion pounds and I still have some fat around my waist. But my arms are stronger. I could not do one push up four months ago. I now easily do 20. Go, me. :)
And I started running. I once again feel like I am going to die, and I hate it. But I will do it because I know ultimately it will make me healthy.
In James, the author says in verse two and verse three: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."
Yes, there is joy in pain. I mean real pain. Emotional pain, too. When you are at your lowest, who do you cry out to? When you are at your highest who do you forget? Most people ignore God when things are great. When we hurt we say "God, help me."
Here is something to chew on.
A man who is rich with things -- albeit material or lots of food, lots of friends -- he is happy, right? Or is he? I am not talking necessarily about money, though that is some of it. He ultimately feels empty and unsatisified and unfulfilled.
Look at James 1:10-11 "But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business." It is temporary. When we seek happiness  in any area but with God it is temporary. Flowers are beautiful but they are not eternal. If the only way we get to God is in our misery how often do we need to rejoice when we are there? Every single time. We don't want to readthe Bible. We don't want to go to church. We don't want to do more than pray now and then. BUT -- if we do what we think we don't want to do the reward is greater. It is not a reward of having all your bills paid or meeting Mr. Right. It is a reward in knowing fulfillment.
I pray you will join me in the coming weeks as I write about this in this blogger devotional. I will put a link to the Bible verses at the conclusion. You too will see it hurts to "work out" but you will want to continue on when you see your arms are stronger and you can do those emotional "push-ups."
 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%201:1-17&version=NIV