Is “Accepting Jesus” All to Becoming a Christian?

 

Many Christians believe they must get as many as possible to “accept Jesus.” But did you know Jesus said it is impossible to come to Him without God’s calling?

“Give your heart to the Lord!” 

If you flip through the channels on a Sunday morning, you will hear many TV preachers using these words trying to encourage their viewers to “accept Jesus” and “be saved.” Most of Protestant Christianity, especially the evangelical movement, is based on the premise that Christians need to expose as many as possible to the name of Jesus Christ in order to save them from hell.

The thinking goes like this: Since the Bible is dogmatic about the need for each person to accept Jesus Christ as Savior (Acts 4:12), it is essential for Christianity to spread the name of Jesus Christ far and wide. Christians must get as many as possible to verbally accept Jesus as Savior now so they can supposedly go to heaven when they die and be “saved” from eternal torment or separation from God. 

How this is carried out varies—from altar calls at evangelistic meetings, to short prayers television preachers give people to read, to one-on-one meetings to persuade people to take this step.

The underlying belief is that God is trying to save the entire world today. In other words, God is in a titanic battle to save as many people as possible because this lifetime is when each person will make the decision that will affect him or her for eternity.

While we don’t question the zeal and sincerity of those behind these efforts, when we look into the Bible, we see that there is much more to becoming a Christian than this. And we see that God’s plan is not just limited to today. To learn more about how God works with people at different times, see From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.

Jesus’ surprising statement

John 6 records an interesting encounter Jesus had with a group of people who followed Him. Jesus discerned that these people followed Him for the free meals He occasionally provided; but they did not really understand who He was or the significance of His message (John 6:26, 41-42). 

In this context Jesus said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (verse 44).

Read it again. Think about it. 

Jesus Christ taught that one must be specifically drawn to Jesus Christ by the Father. The word “draws” is from a Greek word that essentially means to drag, lead or impel (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon). Jesus repeated this truth three other times in this discourse:

• “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me” (verse 37).
• “This is the will of the Father, … that of all He has given Me …” (verse 39). 
• “No one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father” (verse 65).

Jesus was saying that a person cannot just intellectually or emotionally decide to “accept Jesus” and become a Christian. Those people who followed Him around for food could not grasp the significance of His words because they weren’t being drawn (or called) by the Father at that time.

Jesus’ statements show the futility of efforts to get as many people as possible to just say they “accept Jesus.” If we believe what Christ said, then the Father must initiate the process through a calling.

The bigger picture

In order to fully understand what Christ meant, we must step back and look at the bigger picture. If God has to work in the mind of an individual to draw him or her, we have to understand what the Bible teaches about the spiritual state of humanity.

Many are familiar with the Genesis account of Adam, Eve, the serpent and the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3).

After Adam and Eve rejected God’s direction by obeying the serpent (Satan) and eating the fruit of the forbidden tree, God “drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” (verse 24). 

The “tree of life” symbolized access to God through His Spirit, ultimately leading to eternal life. Instead of leaving access open to all of Adam and Eve’s offspring, God cut mankind off from the tree of life. The remainder of the Bible and secular history records that, generally speaking, mankind has pursued a course of life disconnected from God’s guidance and direction in almost every way. Humanity has formed its own religions, governments, customs, ideologies and lifestyles. See “World Religions: Why Are There So Many?” for how this came about.

Since the Garden of Eden, God has allowed Satan to continue to deceive “the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). Throughout the Bible, we are told that the majority of people who have lived are in a state of blindness to spiritual truth (2 Corinthians 3:14; 4:4). 

Just as it is impossible for someone who is blind to see, it is impossible for someone who is spiritually blind to understand spiritual truth (Romans 8:7).

These scriptures help us see the error of thinking God is in a titanic battle with Satan to save as many as possible now by just getting them to accept the name of Jesus. No human effort can convert a mind that has been blinded—spiritual sight and understanding is impossible without God’s intervention (John 12:40). (But God does have a plan to save those He hasn’t yet called in this age! Read “Are Most People Eternally Lost?”)

This is the crucial context for understanding Christ’s statement in John 6:44. Without God’s direct intervention, the human mind will remain blinded. 

Looking for the church behind Life, Hope & Truth? See our “Who We Are” page.

Are you being called?

So, how does the calling revealed in John 6:44 work? In other words, how can a person go from a state of spiritual blindness to a state of spiritual sight and understanding? 

Jesus elaborated on this in Luke 10: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes” (verse 21, emphasis added). This revelation opens the eyes and mind to see and understand spiritual truth that was not possible before. “Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see; for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it” (verses 23-24). 

So the Christian calling begins in the mind! Christ was clear that if you do not have this calling, it doesn’t matter how much you study or who you are, you will not have the ability to understand most spiritual truth. 

So how do you know if you are being called by God?

The first indication is that you are beginning to gain knowledge and understanding of God’s Word that you never had before. The Bible likens this to going from darkness to light: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 4:6). You will begin to understand who God is, what His plan and purpose are and how He expects you to live.

A second indication is that you will begin to feel guilt for your personal sins and will seek to begin the process of repentance and conversion (Acts 2:37-38). Conversion is a big topic; but in simple terms, it is coming to a realization of God’s truth, accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior, asking for forgiveness of your sins, being baptized and living life in subjection to God’s law through the Holy Spirit.

After the first two steps, you must respond. God wants you to dedicate yourself to overcoming sin, building godly character and growing in your understanding of His Word for the rest of your life (Ephesians 4:22-24; 1 Timothy 6:11; 2 Peter 3:18).

For further details and scriptures on the Christian calling, see the infographic “7 Steps of the Christian Calling” and the article “God Calling!”

The next step

The Church that publishes this magazine does not hold altar calls or plead with people to just “accept Jesus.” We understand that before someone can come to Jesus Christ, he or she must first be drawn by the Father. We hope and pray that our materials will be tools in His hand for our readers. We provide many other resources in the “Change” section of our website, LifeHopeandTruth.com. 

God wants all people to be saved, but He determines the age in which His invitation will be extended to each person. Of course, if God is opening your mind to His way of life, it is vitally important that you respond to Him because this is your opportunity. As Hebrews 2:3 asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?”

If you believe God is calling you, we encourage you to study our free booklet Change Your Life! This booklet provides more details about how to personally respond to God’s calling in your life. We also have trained ministers throughout the world who can counsel and assist you in further understanding how to fulfill God’s calling in your life. You can contact us using our contact form at LifeHopeandTruth.com/contact.

The Greatest Battle Ever!

 

The greatest battle ever fought has impacted every person who has ever lived or ever will live. Yet it was witnessed by no one but the combatants!

One of the most important and bloodiest battles of World War II came to be called the Battle of the Bulge. In it, Adolf Hitler made a final desperate attempt to split the Allied armies so that Germany could turn all her power against the Soviet army on the Eastern Front. His plan failed, and the German army was never able to mount a strong offensive again. More than 80,000 American soldiers were killed, maimed or captured in this nearly six-week struggle.

Momentous battles such as this fill our history books. Which was the greatest?

A battle of biblical proportions

Two of the Gospels (Matthew and Luke) record one of the greatest and most important battles that ever took place. It transpired nearly 2,000 years ago in the wilderness outside of Jerusalem. The lives of every human being in all of history hung on the outcome of this battle!

Just before Jesus Christ began His ministry at around the age of 30, He was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. From there, He went out into the desert to do battle with the ruler of this world, Satan. If He lost, there would be no future life beyond the grave for anyone. The background of this battle goes back to the very beginning.

Adam and Eve lose almost everything!

When the first humans, Adam and Eve, were created, God gave them rulership over this beautiful earth. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:27-28).

One of their first tests came shortly afterward when the devil entered their domain, the Garden of Eden. Instead of resisting his propositions, they gave in and soon were yielding to him. Adam and Eve bought into Satan’s lies and deceit and thus lost their authority over the earth.

Paul calls Satan the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and the apostle John refers to him as the “ruler of the world” in several scriptures in his Gospel (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).

The dominion of the earth was now under the “prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). When Jesus went to meet Satan in the wilderness, He came into the territory of the enemy.

Jesus Christ goes out to battle

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil” (Luke 4:1-2).

Now why would the Son of God be involved in a battle with Satan? He was the One who had created this powerful angelic being who had rebelled and become the devil. Certainly, He was more powerful than this fallen angel!

But could He defeat him on the human level? For that is what He will ask us to do. Before He was born of Mary, Jesus Christ existed as the Word (John 1:1-3). In order to become the Savior of all mankind, He emptied Himself of all His godly power and glory to become like us (John 1:14). He would live a sinless life and, being physical, would give His life as a redeeming sacrifice for all of us.

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. …

“Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

The battle plans

Satan’s plan was to destroy the Savior and thwart God’s plan to add humans to His eternal spirit family. He had deceived Eve, turning her away from God; and he would attempt the same with Jesus. If he could separate Jesus from God by enticing Him to do things that would bring Him under his control, then Jesus would eventually sin. If Satan could get Jesus to sin, then He couldn’t be the redeemer of the world and would Himself come under the death penalty.

Christ’s plan was to defeat Satan; and in doing so, He would also provide an example to His followers of how they could do the same.

The battle

Luke 4:2 tells us that the battle waged for 40 days. Then in the final days of the battle, the devil hit Christ with his best shots—three salvos, one right after another. Seeing that Jesus was very weak from hunger and thirst, he began his final desperate attempts to win this battle. It was here that the conflict reached a climax.

“And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, ‘If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread’” (Matthew 4:2-3).

Noting the desperate hunger that Jesus was experiencing, Satan challenged Him to end it by turning stones into bread. But Christ, like Paul, could say, when I am (physically) weak, then I am (spiritually) strong (2 Corinthians 12:10).

Of itself, the turning of stones into bread would not have been a sin, but Satan leads people into sin by getting them to yield to him even in small ways. Satan wanted to start Christ down a path He hadn’t chosen. Jesus had chosen the spiritual tool of fasting, and He would be the One to make the decision of when and how to end it.

So He reminded Satan that the spiritual nourishment from God’s Word was more important than the physical (Matthew 4:4). He later reminded His followers that if they put God’s Kingdom first, then all their physical needs would be provided (Matthew 6:33). Christ’s example also teaches us not to compromise—even in small, seemingly insignificant ways—with Satan and his influence.

Then Satan tossed out another challenge—for Jesus to throw Himself off a high wall of the temple to prove that God would have His angels take care of Him. Again, Jesus’s response was from the Scripture. We are not to test God by deliberately putting ourselves in danger (Matthew 4:7).

And, finally, taking Jesus up into a high mountain, he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. Since Satan was the current ruler of this world, Jesus didn’t deny that he had the authority to make that offer. Satan laid before Him all the power, wealth and glory of all the nations of the world if He would fall down and worship him.

To each of these temptations that Satan threw at Him, Christ responded with a quote from Scripture. So when we’re faced with a temptation, we should ask, What does God’s Word say? This is one reason it is so important to study the Bible.Again, Jesus went to the Holy Scriptures. He rebuked Satan, saying that only God is worthy of worship, and commanded him to leave (verse 10).

All of these things Jesus Christ would receive in due time (Luke 22:29). He would be patient and acquire God’s blessings the right way.

To each of these temptations that Satan threw at Him, Christ responded with a quote from Scripture. So when we’re faced with a temptation, we should ask, What does God’s Word say? This is one reason it is so important to study the Bible.

The battle is in the mind

Years later, Christ inspired Paul to exhort Christians to put on the whole armor of God for their daily spiritual battles.

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11-12).

One way a Christian puts on the protective armor of God is through occasional fasting. This is what Jesus did (Matthew 4:1-2). The purpose of fasting is to draw closer to God in order to receive help from Him.

In all of Satan’s attempts to derail us, he tries to take advantage of our nature—our human desires and weaknesses. Jesus had all the physical desires of a normal man. He had to control them and not allow those desires to master Him (1 Corinthians 9:27).

The battle is in the mind. Spiritual growth and character development take place in the mind, where the inner man must be renewed day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16).

If our character is spiritually strong, we will be able to keep the desires of our bodies under control so they won’t betray us or lead us into conduct that destroys our future. Christ filled His mind with the message of the Holy Bible. He knew what God’s inspired Word taught.

Our battles

There is a saying about life among the wild animals of Africa: “Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle … when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

Every day we awaken to a new battle. Satan would like to prevent us from achieving our awesome goal of eternal life in the Kingdom of God. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

It is prudent to ask ourselves, Where am I most vulnerable? What is my Achilles’ heel? These are the areas where we especially must be on guard. No one can truthfully say that he or she has no weakness (1 Corinthians 10:12).

In the apostle John’s first letter, he spoke of three human passions that drive most men and women. Unfortunately, these common desires pull us away from God.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

It seems that almost every spiritual failure we suffer goes back to our allowing ourselves to be led by one of these three unbridled passions that take our focus off God.

Our spiritual battles begin in our minds, our thoughts. The thoughts that are filthy, selfish and vain must be conquered. We must learn to rule ourselves with the help of the power of God’s Holy Spirit. If we don’t learn this important principle, then we will not be prepared to rule righteously under Christ in His future Kingdom.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:20-21).

Jesus Christ is offering you the opportunity to assist Him in bringing a new and better way of life to this suffering world. For more information on how to be a part of that, we encourage you to study our free booklet The Mystery of the Kingdom.

What Is Happiness?

 

Happiness is precious and far too rare. We have tried every trick in an effort to conjure it up, but it remains elusive. How does God say to pursue happiness?

What is happiness? A number of years ago there was a series of popular posters with the saying, “Happiness is…” For example, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”

It was cute, and true! While you are looking at the poster, or better yet, cuddling the soft, loving, loyal and fun little puppy, it’s hard not to feel at least a twinge of happiness! It’s wonderful, and it makes you want to feel that feeling more often—maybe always!

What makes people happy?

For some people, happiness is the adventure of sports, and maybe even an extreme sport—the thrill of skydiving, scuba diving or ski jumping. Whatever it is, many people can’t wait for the weekend to do it again. The rush, the thrill—that’s what they live for. That’s their idea of happiness. 

Others pursue happiness through career advancement and financial success. Status and the finer things money can buy are goals and markers in this pursuit.

Others seek happiness through relationships. The number or the depth of the relationships are seen as keys to greater fulfillment and happiness.

Of course, if you ask 10 people, you’ll probably find at least 10 ideas of how to get happiness. About the only thing we can all agree on is that we want to be happy all the time, and most of us would say we want everyone else to be happy too.

But we live in a world filled with unhappiness. Sometimes the things we do to try to make ourselves happy make those around us unhappy. And the things we do that are fun and that seem to make us happy today often help make us unhappy in the future.

Let’s look at the kind of happiness people try to get, and compare it with the happiness God gives. God’s happiness will make us—and all people—truly happy for all eternity!

A brief history of happiness

History doesn’t record a lot of happiness. Instead there’s been a lot of sorrow and sadness. Wise King Solomon commented on this:

“For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23).

This word vanity implies pointlessness, meaninglessness—like trying to grab a cloud or chase the wind.

Books have been written about this subject, like Happiness: A History by Darrin M. McMahon. Although the book is thick, the amount of happiness it describes and the amount it brings to the reader seems small. In fact, despite its title, it’s a pretty depressing book.

But it does contain some fascinating facts. People throughout history didn’t look at happiness in the same way people in the Western world do today.

The pursuit of happiness

We generally think everyone has the right to pursue happiness and to be happy. But Dr. McMahon says that is a way of thinking that grew in the Enlightenment era. 

It was still a new concept when Thomas Jefferson penned the words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1776. He wrote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It seems these famous lines in the Declaration of Independence were inspired by Virginia’s Declaration of Rights by George Mason, written earlier the same year. Mason listed man's “natural Rights” as “Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.”

But it was English philosopher John Locke who coined the phrase pursuit of happiness 95 years earlier in his book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1681). He wrote:

"The necessity of pursuing happiness [is] the foundation of liberty. As therefore the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness; so the care of ourselves, that we mistake not imaginary for real happiness, is the necessary foundation of our liberty.”

Is happiness just fate—or a right?

Dr. McMahon spends a lot of time talking about the ancient Greeks and all their philosophies. You see, they started, as it seems most societies in history did, believing that happiness was just fate, luck, happenstance—a rare gift of the fickle, unpredictable gods. 

It’s interesting that the English word happiness is from the root word happ, “meaning chance, fortune, what happens in the world.” It gives us “such words as ‘happenstance,’ ‘haphazard,’ ‘hapless,’ and ‘perhaps’” (p. 11). 

Happiness wasn’t something you could do much about. You just had to live with the hand you were dealt. The Greek gods didn’t seem too interested in making people happy—they were too busy trying to get happiness for themselves. So people thought happiness was fate—blind luck.

If we were happy all the time in this life, we wouldn't make the changes we need to make to become like God and to prepare to be in His family.

But real happiness is not fate or luck.

Fast-forward to the Enlightenment a couple hundred years ago. People began to feel that everyone could be, and even had the right to be, happy. Some great thinkers tried to make happiness into a mathematical formula to find ways to maximize pleasure for the greatest number of people while minimizing the pain. 

People tried all these ideas out, but they didn’t bring lasting happiness. From the French Revolution to communism, to the “free love,” drug-induced temporary “happiness” of the 1960s, these experiments have all been failures.

You can’t just give happiness to the majority; you can’t force people to do things that you think will make them happy; and using drugs of any kind can never bring lasting happiness.

Drug-induced happiness?

In Bible times the drug of choice was alcohol, and the Proverbs give a poetic description of some of the terrible results of using substances like alcohol to try to achieve happiness (Proverbs 23:29-35).

None of these problems are secret. Anyone could see the dangers. Yet drugs, both illegal and prescribed, continue to be a broad way people take to try to get happiness. Why?

As science learns more about brain chemistry, it can seem like happiness is just the proper mix of chemicals in the brain. No wonder illegal drug use is so common today. People aren’t happy and desperately want to forget their pain and despair and to feel some happiness. 

But this dog always bites. There are always side effects, risks to health, addictions, plus the dangers of being associated with drug dealers and the sleaziest side of human society. And when you come down from the high, the original problems are still there and multiplied!

Real happiness can’t come through drugs.

The journey of most people today is all about trying desperately to find happiness. It’s a journey, and an experiment, that has been tried thousands of times in many different ways. 

But one man in history surely holds the record for the most scientific and complete study of happiness. That man was Solomon.

Solomon’s scientific experiment to answer, what is happiness?

Solomon recorded his personal experiments in the search for happiness in a short little book called Ecclesiastes. It’s only about 10 pages long, but it packs more of a punch than Dr. McMahon’s 560-page book. And although it can also be depressing, it is worth reading. 

In the 10th century B.C., wealthy and wise King Solomon applied all of his riches, energy and smarts to a controlled experiment in happiness.

He tried it all: He tried wisdom and foolishness (Ecclesiastes 1:16-18). He tried comedy and partying (2:1-3). He tried great building projects and all the things we think about with the rich and famous. He tried entertainment on a scale that couldn’t be repeated until our modern world where we can carry all our singers in a mobile device (2:4-8).

Yet, no matter what he tried, he found he wasn’t satisfied or truly happy. He felt it all was “vanity of vanities”—utter emptiness, the ultimate absurdity (1:1-4, 8).

What is the main message of Ecclesiastes?

Eerdmans’ Handbook to the Bible summarizes Ecclesiastes this way:

“The book simply observes life around and draws the logical conclusions. … Life as man lives it, without God, is futile, meaningless, purposeless, empty. It is a bleak picture. Nature and history go round in circles: there is nothing new. Add up the profit and loss of human life and you are better off dead. Life is unfair; work is pointless; pleasure fails to satisfy; good living and wise thinking are rendered futile by death. ‘Be realistic,’ says the book, ‘If life without God is the whole story, see it for what it is. Don’t pretend. Don’t bury your head in the sand. This is the truth about life.’”

Ecclesiastes doesn’t end there, of course, and neither does the Bible. There is a God, and there is real purpose and meaning to life. There is a way that leads to true happiness for all.

What is real happiness?

We’ve looked at a lot of things true happiness isn’t. It’s not just luck. It’s not just a mix of brain chemicals, and it can’t be produced by drugs or alcohol. It’s not having lots of money, entertainment or even knowledge. All of this can be just meaningless.

Happiness is: 

So, what is real happiness?

Happiness begins with respecting and obeying God

Solomon’s conclusion to Ecclesiastes tells us: “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (12:13). His commandments show us how to love God and how to love other people.

Solomon shows us there is no happiness without God in the picture. God gives meaning to our lives, and that meaning is what ultimately gives us real, lasting happiness. 

Happiness is becoming God’s children

Consider this amazing summary of what God has in store for those He calls now and, eventually, for all humanity:

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 John 3:1). God wants us to be His children, to be like Him (verses 2-3)! That is the real purpose of human life. 

Happiness is giving

Trying to get happiness or to only think about having a good time now doesn’t work. If we were happy all the time in this life, we wouldn’t make the changes we need to make to become like God and to prepare to be in His family. 

To really be like God, we can’t make getting eternal life or getting happiness for ourselves our main goal. That’s not what God is like. He is a God of love—outgoing concern—of giving, not getting.

As Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). 

We can be inspired by biblical characters like Ruth who thought only of how to show love and loyalty to her grieving mother-in-law, Naomi. But the book of Ruth shows God did give her happiness too. 

We can be inspired by the 4-year-old boy I read about whose elderly neighbor had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy climbed into his lap—a loving and comforting, giving act.

And we can be inspired by the ultimate example of giving, Jesus Christ, who gave up everything to become human and then willingly gave His life. Why was He willing to do that? Because of the joy set before Him—the joy of bringing many brothers and sisters into God’s family (Hebrews 12:2; 2:10)!

He showed us that eternal joy, as opposed to the fleeting feelings of happiness, requires a long-term view and a willingness to give up some pleasures now for the ultimate pleasures forever. 

Happiness is forever!

Visualize the happiness God has in store: “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).

Read more about God’s way of life that produces happiness in the articles “Beatitudes: Keys to Real Happiness” and “Are You Happy?”