Body: | A Better Life than this?
Today we live in a world that is constantly seeking for happiness. Everyone
has a mania about being happy or high and it has become a national hobby
with us. It is also a billion dollar business. Everywhere we turn someone
has something that will make us happy. If we drink a certain beer, buy a
certain car, wear a certain pair of pants, dab ourselves with a certain
perfume, or brush with Ultra-Bright we are going to be happy. Sometimes our
search for happiness costs us or hurts us badly. Seeking happiness, some
turn to heavy drinking and lose their dignity or more, some turn to dope
and drugs and lose their life, some seek happiness in a few minutes of fun
and games with sex and lose. Yet Satan continues to help the happiness
sellers package their fun in brightly colored, eye-appealing packages that
make us want them desperately. Satan somehow convinces us that if we just
had: a souped up car, a new dress, a good-looking boy or girl friend, lots
of money, popularity, a sex life, a good figure, we would be happy. The
truth is, Satan has sold us a bunch of garbage. Peter said that those who
turned to worldly things for happiness were like dogs turning to his own
vomit and pigs wallowing in the mire (II Peter 2:21-22). The things that
Satan claims will make you happy just will not do it. Thank God there is a
better way to find real happiness.
Isaiah talked of a better way of life in Chapter 40:31. listen to his
advice, "But those who look upon the Lord, will renew their strength they
will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary,
they shall walk and not grow faint." Isaiah calls us to the eagle way of
life.
Two young men climbing a hill one day found a young eagle and brought him
home with them. The little eagle was placed in the chicken house with the
rest of the chickens. Try as he could the little eagle just could not
become a chicken. He tried enjoying pecking around in the dirt, eating
worms and the garbage the farmer threw out. He even tried walking around
cackling, chickens never fly. He tried spending all day tail in the air,
nose to the ground, eating dirt and getting dirty. One day as he was
getting more and more frustrated with his inability to be a chicken, he was
startled by a barking do-a. The little eagle flapped his mighty wings to
ward off the dog and found to his amazement that he had soared into the
pure fresh air above the yard. His wings carried him lip to the highest
trees and on into the air, to the highest mountain peaks, he never wanted
to be a chicken again.
Are you an eagle or a chicken? Satan's life is one for chickens. Full of
dirt, walking, picking up worms and garbage thrown to you. God made you, he
is your creator. He knows what will make you happy. He wants you to find
real joy and happiness in life, and he made it available to you. What kind
of happiness does God offer to you?
In John 3:16 we discover that God loved us enough to send His only son,
Jesus, to save us from our sins. God chose you to be happy, to be the one
to whom He could give His most prized possession as a gift. That love God
has for us ought to really make us happy. In John 8:35-36, Jesus said, "If
the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Happiness is being free
of guilt, pain, worries, problems. Jesus wants to set you free of all
these. He came to take our burdens away. To be free is to be happy. In John
10:10, Jesus said He had come to give us life and life abundantly. The word
"abundantly" means fully packed, stamped down and running over. Imagine a
life filled with so much happiness and joy that you just bubble over. Those
were the promises God made to you. Why be a chicken when you can be an
eagle. Why walk when you can fly. Why eat dirt when you can sail in the
pure fresh air of the mountains. Never knock the way of life Jesus has
offered to you unless you try it first. You might be surprised what you
will feel, when you soar on wings like an eagle.
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