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What are you building your life on, the "shallows" of happy or the "deeps" of joy?


Introduction to this letter written to my father


What are you building your life on, the shallows of “happy” or the deeps of “joy?”


Cindy and I were visiting some close friends last week. Our purpose was to celebrate with them the building of their dream house. As we walked their property and building site the only thing visible at the time was the gray and bare foundation. Actually, not much to see unless you have a good understanding of construction. Really, what we were looking at was the most important thing about this house. This home will be beautiful, a dream come true when finished but without a proper and strong foundation it will only split and crumble to the ground over time.


Isn’t this the picture of life? The waves of life relentlessly crash into our personal foundations, trying to erode them, tear them down. Should we be surprised at this? After all, this is the enemy's territory. Rumors of war, inflation, effects of a pandemic, a government that can’t seem to function, I could go on and on. And then there are the things that are just part of living in this corrupted earth. Disease, marital and financial stress, raising children in a society adrift, career pressures, again, I could go on and on.


We all start out with the desire to build our dream life. You have your ideas and I have my own as to what that would look like. They are probably quite different but where we are the exactly same is that none of us began our adult lives purposely wanting to build a so-so mediocre or failure of a life. We all want a dream life. But like my friend’s house, we cannot build anything of lasting value and fulfilling unless we have a proper and strong foundation. A foundation that can withstand the persistent attacks of just being alive in this world.


Why is our society crumbling before our eyes? There is no mystery as to the answer. Our current society is built on a weak and false foundation based on a lie that states that our personal happiness is the supreme goal in life. Today it’s all about being happy. If you don’t feel happy then move on until you find something "new and exciting" and blame someone else in the process. Be it a marriage, a job, a car, a purse, clothing or a house, anything at all, if they don’t make you “feel” happy then go get a new one. Not much of a foundation to build a life on in my estimation, when your feelings of "happy" can be swept away by the waves of life as the sand in the sea.


There’s only one foundation that will stand the test of time, that is the foundation of joy. In times of happiness, in times of sorrow and disappointment, it will always deliver its firm holding power on your life. This foundation of joy will never change because its source is unchangeable. The source is the same yesterday, today and forever, it is the eternal Rock of Ages, Christ Himself.


My father didn’t speak much about joy as I grew up. Although a Christian believer, he didn’t go deep enough in his relationship with Christ to experience this wonderful foundation of joy that He offers. But I did see joy in his last months. He was confident about his present and his future “in Christ.” A joy for me to see! Enjoy this letter I wrote to him about “joy,” maybe it helped him in the growth I saw in him.


 

This letter was written on January 17, 2019


What are you building your life on, the "shallows" of happy or the "deeps' of joy?


You have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in

heaven. Hebrews 10:34




Good morning Dad,


Yesterday we discussed JOY. What it is and its root in the Christ follower’s life. Joy is present in the believer’s life when the presence of Jesus is felt in a real palpable way (through the ministry of the Holy Spirit) and the delight of the mind received by the assurance we have in the eternal future we have in our real home in Heaven.


Paul writes these words in Hebrews to a group of people who have literally gone through the “mill.” They have “endured a great conflict full of suffering.” Hebrews 10:32 NIV. He is encouraging them to persevere and “hang tight” for their future reward of possessing eternally the wonder and the happiness Heaven will provide.


"JOY is the serious business of Heaven." C.S. Lewis


A lot of us in our comfortable Western culture don’t quite identify with these verses. Go to a land of persecution, say the Middle East or China, ask a Christian there how they feel about these verses. Both young and old will quickly pull these verses close to their hearts and say, “Yes, yes, I look so forward to Heaven. My hope of Heaven is a rock to my soul. I know this is not my home. How can it be? There is too much pain here.”



Unless we are going through some degree of a personal trial it is hard to hang on to the wonderful hope of Heaven’s future in our lives. Many times, our “happy” element supersedes the “joy” factor. It takes hardships in our lives to suck all the “happy” out of our lives; for us to come to the realization that it “ain’t” all that great here living behind enemy lines. It takes trials to transport us out of the “shallows” of happiness and move us in to the “deeps” of “joy.”


It takes trials to transport us out of the “shallows” of happiness and move us in to the “deeps” of “joy.”

As we age, it becomes easier to get a hold of what Paul is saying here. Bodies begin to fail, wisdom supplants the “here and now” happy, perspective begins to weigh in with truth, the bulk of this earthly life is in the rearview mirror. The hope of Heaven becomes more and more important each day.


Father doesn’t want us to feel guilty that you and I have been enormously blessed to have been born here in the USA. It is only by grace that we find ourselves here, being able to live where there is such abundance materially and the freedom to live as we do as believers in Christ. There is nothing wrong with the potential of a lot of “happy” in our lives because of where and when we live. We just need to recognize it as a gift, not a right.


But.....let’s not lose sight of our real wealth. As the heirs of Christ’s kingdom, our wealth now is in our present relationship with Jesus, day by day and the fullness of joy He brings. And our wealth is in our future inheritance of the reality of Heaven, the eternal presence with Jesus and Father in a way this is indescribably and amazingly good.


Love you Dad!



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