"You'll never find happiness" seems like a depressing and wrong thing to say. But it's true! However before you dismiss this as stupid negativism - when it's just the opposite - let me share an ancient parable with you.

There was an old wise cat and a small kitten in an alleyway. The old cat saw the kitten chasing its tail and asked, “Why are you chasing your tail?”

To it the kitten replied, “I’ve been attending cat philosophy school and I have learned that the most important thing for a cat is happiness, and that happiness is located in my tail. Therefore, I am chasing it: and when I catch it, I shall have happiness forever.”

Laughing, the wise old cat replied, “My son, I wasn’t lucky enough to go to cat philosophy school, but as I’ve gone through life, I too have realized that the most important thing for a cat is happiness, and indeed that it is located in my tail.  The difference I’ve found though is that whenever I chase after it, it keeps running away from me, but when I go about my business and live my life, it just seems to follow after me wherever I go.”

We often spend all our energy and time in the pursuit of happiness. We think that if somehow we can just have more money, be more famous, have better looks, nicer clothes, faster cars...the list is endless...but then we would be happy. Yet when we arrive at this next place we find that happiness is not there. It seems to have moved on...just ahead...we just need a bit more money, a bit more fame...

These things are what Solomon in another place calls "vapour" or "wind". Chasing after it is pointless, because when we get there we discover there is nothing there but emptiness.

So does that mean we are destined to not find happiness?
Yes! However you can get Joy!
You see what we all really want is not actually happiness, it's joy. 


Do you know where the word "happy" comes from? Understanding this will help you see why it has never been happiness that we wanted.

The word "happy" came into being in the late 14th century and it quite simply meant "lucky". Think of how we use "hap" in other words. Haphazard, Happen, Happenstance - it is to do with luck, or chance. The word "happy" means a lucky event that happens to you. That's why we can't find it. Even if we stumble across something great, the chances are it will vanish away like the wind in no time at all.

However "joy" is a completely different concept. God does not offer fleeting, lucky happiness, he offers eternal, situation-independent joy. God offers us a gift - a gift so precious that if we consider it for a moment we will be blown away. He offers to give us the Spirit gift of joy.

Joy is not found, it is given. Joy is not external, it is internal. Joy is not luck, it is God. This is a gift from God. A gift of inner joy that transcends all situations in our life. This is what God offers us.

No wonder the other prisoners are stunned...they have never seen real joy like this. Who sings in after being flogged. This is a joy that depends not on where we are, how we feel, it is a joy that comes from God.

The good news is that you'll never find happiness, but you can receive the gift of joy.

Four Given - Extract

"With that I step away and proceed to cross the busy street to reach the hospital. Mr Dewati is standing stunned, a look of total incomprehension etched on his face. I see children laughing and skipping, chased by playful animals, as as they run on a carpet of green grass in a swirl of color and sound. Joy. Indescribable."

See Eternity

This image reminds me so powerfully of the verse in 1Cor 4:18. Paul knew all too well that what he saw around him was not real. He'd been given a look at eternity and so realized how thin the veil is that separates us from God's reality.

We too must never get consumed by the apparent permanence of the things around us. The cars, the homes, the gadgets, the clothes...it is all vapor. It will vanish with the rising SON and only God's time will exist. The place where he dwells. Eternity.

"O God open our eyes and let us see." (2Kings 6:17)

Life is a story- a weaving together of thousands of stories. Most times we are together we are sharing stories. The big question we need to ask is - What is my story?

The great command is all about love..."Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength....and love your neighbour as yourself." And there is nothing more compelling than love stories.

Love is made up of a series of special moments. Think of a time that was special for you with your husband, wife, friend, kids. Was it facts like their age, hair color, day of week that you recall or was it the events, scenes, feelings? 

Love is a tapestry of our stories, memories. 
God's love letter to us, the Bible, is a tapestry of stories. 

We all have a story...but maybe that story is more important than we think. Stories only come out of relationships - good or bad. But where there is no relationship there is no story. 

The big question therefore is that if we truly love God, our neighbours and ourself what are our stories? 

First Love - Story 1
Most intense stories are from first love experiences. Even more so when the poor, hard done by girl meets the royal prince. Fairy tales abound with these types of stories. Such a story is this...

Jesus meets a crazy, poor, rejected man in a graveyard. He is totally down and out. Rejected and despised. He meets Jesus for the first time and his life is changed. He is saved and clothed and changed forever. The classic tale. But how does it end?

Jesus instructs him (Legion) to tell his story - 
“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had - mercy on you.” (Mk 5:19).

And the result...did he do it?
Of course! He was in love - "So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed." (Mk 5:20)

First Love - Story 2
This love story flows directly into the next one...Another first love story.
This time it is a woman who had been seeking for 12 years for someone to truly care for her. She too is rejected, despised, and without hope int this world. And then she meets the "knight in shining armour" - or more likely travel-stained robes. She meets Jesus in the throng of a busting crowd. She reaches out and touches Jesus and her life is changed forever! The result?
She is compelled to share her story...
"Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth." (Mk 5:33)

First Love - Story 3
Does it end there? No! This love story flows straight into the next one. In fact as this story was unfolding Jesus was actually on his way to the house of a man in desperate need. His daughter was dying, and no one could help. By the time Jesus arrives his daughter is dead, and it would seem that this tragedy can have no happy ending. Yet Jesus dismisses the mocking of the professional mourners and proceeds to raise the little girl. Jairus' life is changed forever - his most precious gift is returned - but more than that, he has experienced love eternal. And what happened after that?
"News of this spread through all that region." (Matt 9:26) - The story was told, and retold, and retold...

Impossible Secrets
Have you ever had something that you were just desperate to share? Something happened to you, or you heard something amazing and you just want to share it. You might even look for any vaguely associated opportunity to use so you can leap to your story. "Talking of cats, the other day our builder, who has a cat, told me about what happened to his car....", and so you proceed to share the story with the most tenuous of links.

Some things are just impossible to keep secret. When we have met Jesus and felt his love, it is an impossible secret.
"Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him all over that region." (Matt 9:29-31)

Jesus is the impossible secret - "Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret." (Mk 7:2)

Has Jesus entered our house, our life but we "could not keep his presence secret"? It just shines out our faces? In how we behave, speak, think?

Share Your Story
We are called to share our story, just like so many in the Bible did. Paul did not preach with clever words but with stories - "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony (my story) about God." (1Cor 2:1)

You can imagine sitting down to a meal and being captivating by Paul saying, "You know that I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city....Well one day..." (Acts 22:3)

Why do we share stories? 
Firstly because we are compelled to. When we have experienced something has exciting as Jesus we cannot but share our story, our experiences. However there is another part to this too. It is not just to impact others but to save us too. Our stories, as did the stories of Legion, Jairus, Paul, etc impact the lives of others in a profound way, but they also save us too.

"They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (story)" (Rev 12:11,17) - Wow! We overcome by our stories because they reflect was is really important to us.

BIG QUESTION
The BIG Question is - Do I have a story?
If not, is it because we haven't let God write us one yet?

"You are a letter from Christ" (2Cor 3:3) - 

When was the last time we delivered Jesus' letter to someone? 
When did we share our story? 
What is my story?
The story is not sharing what we know but rather whom we have known. 

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story" (Ps 107:1-2)

There's a great advert that Apple aired some years ago about the crazy ones...

Crazies changing the world - Who are these crazies? What can we learn from them? Maybe more importantly - am I a world-changing, life-changing crazy?

Crazies
If we were transported back to 1000 BC and talk about men who would be in flying machines, rockets going to the moon, moving pictures held in the hand- we would be called crazy. 

If we are transported back to 2013 AD and talk about a man who would bring an abundant life- joy indescribable in suffering, peace indescribable in catastrophe, love indescribable in hatred - would we be called crazy?

Some Crazies
Crazies are those who don't fit the majority's mould. Those who talk of things that make no sense to us. A metal machine flying in the air, or a life of peace in the midst of turmoil. Crazy!

We are afraid of them and hence vilify them. Only later when see they were right do we venerate them. As Jesus said...

“Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them. (Luke 11:47)

Let's consider some mould breakers, some crazies, some Bible crazies. How many of these crazy speaking, crazy acting people are there?

David - Crazy Worship
David was a man of passion, who many must have considered crazy. He had dreams of an incredible temple, he wrote songs where he spoke to God himself. And then he went "crazy" when he wanted to tell God how awesome he was -

"David, ceremonially dressed in priest's linen, danced with great abandon before God." (2Sam 6:14)...And Michal despised him for it..."David returned home to bless his family. Michal, Saul's daughter, came out to greet him: "How wonderfully the king has distinguished himself today-- exposing himself to the eyes of the servants 'maids like some crazy street dancer!" (2Sam 6:20).

His Godly abandon is seen as crazy. Are we ever seen as crazy in our passionate worship of God?

Prophet - Crazy Sayings
A young unnamed Prophet is sent by Elisha to give Jehu a message about him becoming king. A crazy message considering he wasn't royalty. And what do the "normal" people say about an unexpected message -

When Jehu went out to his fellow officers, one of them asked him, “Is everything all right? Why did this maniac come to you?”
“You know the man and the sort of things he says,” Jehu replied. (2 Kings 9:11)

Are we seen as crazy for the crazy things we say can and will happen to the children of God?

John - Crazy Behavior
Surely on the crazy list must be wild and wooly John the Baptist.

John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. (Matt 3:4)

And his behavior and message drew the sage criticism of the "normal" people; ."John came fasting and they called him crazy." (Matthew 11:18)

Are we seen as crazy for the crazy unconventional things we do, in God's service?

Jesus - Crazy offer
Then we have Jesus. He makes the most crazy statement, the most crazy offers of all.

"I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10).

In a world of scarcity, he offers abundance. In a world of death he offers life. He even goes so far as to say he will die to give this life offer. Crazy!

"In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary." (Jn 10:15)

And so the response...A lot of them were saying, "He's crazy, a maniac-- out of his head completely. Why bother listening to him?" (John 10:20)

Are we seen as crazy for the crazy offers and promises we make to people?

We are the crazy ones
Crazy worship, crazy sayings, crazy behavior, crazy promises...who are these crazy people? We are called to be crazy for God!

From crazy to crazy. We come from a craziness born of despair, born of hopelessness and arrive at a "craziness" born of love, born of hope. A place that the world believes impossible but where God's children live eternal possibilities. So as Legion, crazed and living among the dead tastes life eternal in Jesus, so too can we (Mark 5).

And so like crazies of all times the world will look with wonder and scorn at us as the "prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac." (Hosea 9:7)

When we claim that he is alive, they will reply, “You’re out of your mind” (Acts 12:15). When we say we have met him, they will not believe because our words will seem like nonsense to them (Luke 24:11). When we share our story, they will say, "you are insane" (Acts 26:24)

Yet, "if we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God." (2Cor 5:13).

Yours in craziness

Malo

I was struck by this verse as I sat and meditated and listened for the voice of God...

"If they'd have bothered to sit down and meet with me, they'd have preached my Message to my people. They'd have gotten them back on the right track, gotten them out of their evil ruts." (Jeremiah 23:22)

That's pretty intense, but maybe it comes home even more powerfully when we change the pronoun...

"If you'd bothered to sit down and meet with me, you'd have preached my Message to my people. You'd have gotten them back on the right track, gotten them out of their evil ruts." (Jeremiah 23:22)

This hit me as I had just sat down on a rock to listen and talk to God. He was speaking to me. Why do we so seldom sit down and talk to him? I'm not talking about in church, but in a silent place away from everyone. A place away from distraction. A place away from noise. Maybe there we will hear him and there see how awesome his message is. How important our task is to share his refreshing message of love with a world gasping for hope.

Thank you Lord for meeting with me.

...Malo Bel - fourgiven.org