True Happiness

“Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord!
Give a joyous shout in honor of the Rock of our salvation!”
Psalms 95:1 The Living Bible

We all want to be happy.  We search for ways to feel significant as we look for fulfillment. And we do feel satisfied and content and even fulfilled to an extent as we build up our self esteem and climb our ladder in life.  Yet these things never completely make us happy.  Eventually we look deeper than in ourselves.  Hopefully we look to God.

God made us to find our joy in Him.  We don’t lose ourselves and our identity when we look for fulfillment in Him.  Instead we find completeness.  We become one with Him. We find our deep fulfillment as we submit to Him because that is what He has made us for.

When we are feeling down nothing uplifts us like a song of praise to God.  It isn’t just that we forget about ourselves and our problems as we focus on God.  We take ourselves, including our challenges, with us into God’s presence and give them to Him knowing He will make us competent to handle them His way.

Real joy, which is a fruit of the Spirit, comes in worshipping God.  It’s joy that stays with us.

Bible Truths to Share with Your Kids:

What could I do for you to make you happy? Would you say one thing or would you have to give me a long list before you could really say you would be happy?

Maybe you are longing for a pet and you think, if only I had that cute little puppy I would be so happy.  Or maybe your best friend just moved away and you are thinking, if only I could be with my best friend again I would be so happy.  It’s true.  You would be happy but only for awhile then you would want more good things to happen.

God says to delight ourselves in Him and He will give us the desires of our heart.  Part of to delight in Him means to worship Him.  Singing praise songs to God is a way to worship Him.  Singing songs about God lifts our spirit because we are inviting God to come close to us when we worship Him.

We will still feel sad because our best friend moved away and we will still want a puppy. At the same time we will feel life is OK because God is taking care of this all and helping us deal with it. After all, God is with us and He is the most important part of our life.