YOU CAN HAVE A HAPPY LIFE

“These things I have spoken to you,
that My joy may remain in you,
and that your joy may be full.”
— John 15:11

Why are so many Christians restless, worried and unhappy, even though the verse above tells us clearly that this is not what God intends for His children? In this booklet, we hope to address this question to discover God’s remedy so that we might be able to say with Paul,

“I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Phil. 4:11).

BURDEN OF GUILT

One of the basic causes of unhappiness is a sense of guilt that burdens the conscience and robs the soul of peace. Before we can have true happiness there must be peace with God.

If there are any doubts about our peace with God, there can be no settled peace in the soul. If we are to succeed in finding peace, and the happiness that results from it, we must begin with this question of guilt and how it can be removed.

Guilt destroys happiness and peace. It breaks down self-esteem and robs us of self-confidence. How can we trust ourselves when we know that we have done many wrong things?

We may try to run away from our conscience by pursuing earthly pleasure, or we may attempt to quiet its voice by reasoning that times have changed, and that now “everybody does it.”

Still, there is that uneasy feeling that something is not right. We instinctively know that God has not changed and that sin never ceases to be sin. No matter how much we try to repress the guilty feeling, it is still there—making us restless, uneasy and fearful.

Coupled with a sense of guilt is a consciousness that we deserve to be punished. This increases our fear. God, who knows all about this, has said:

“Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

We cannot have peace and true happiness until the question of our guilt is settled in a way that is just.

Our God-implanted conscience, part of the moral nature of man, makes us feel guilty when we have done something wrong. It also makes us realize that we deserve punishment.

Some try to ease their guilt by joining a church and getting involved in religious activities, but they know deep down that this will never bring peace.

DEALING WITH GUILT

Guilt produces a fear of God whom we know we have offended, and a fear of the punishment we instinctively know we deserve.

There is only one way to lift this depressing sense of guilt and fear. It is through justification by faith in the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.

In the epistle to the Romans, Paul deals directly with the question of our guilt and God’s answer to it. There we read that all the world is guilty, but God provides the means for our justification:

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus … that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:23–24, 26).

In that same epistle, we also read of the results of that justification:

“Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ … And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation” (Rom. 5:1,11).

God’s way not only lifts the depressing load of guilt but also gives us a consciousness of God’s love that produces joy.

The guilt that once made us tremble at the thought of judgment now becomes the means by which we measure the love of God, who did not spare His own Son but delivered Him up for us. The memory of our guilt, becomes a wellspring of thanksgiving to God who redeemed us and justified us.

A HAPPY LIFE

How can a guilty soul have peace with a holy God?

The only answer is through the blood of the cross:

“Without shedding of blood there is no remission” for sin (Heb. 9:22).

On the cross, Christ was made an offering for all our sins, and He bore the punishment due our sins (Isa. 53:4–6,10). This suffering and death of Christ are the only grounds upon which a righteous God and a guilty creature can be at peace.

SEEKING PEACE

Once a sinner acknowledges his sin, his first concern is how to obtain peace with God. But the great question is not, “How can a sinner make peace with his God?” It is,

“How can a holy, sin-hating God make peace with this sinner?”

God accomplished this by giving His Son as the sacrifice for sin:

“Having made peace through the blood of His cross” (Col. 1:20).

It is not by any effort of the sinner that peace is made; God has already made peace through the blood of the cross.

Peace with God does not depend upon our feelings. We may deceive ourselves into believing we will come out all right in the end. But such false peace is the fruit of unbelief, for God plainly states,

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23).

The only way to true peace is repentance; the Bible says,

“Unless you repent you will … perish” (Lk. 13:5).

The first step to true peace then is to accept this fact. The next step is to believe God’s evaluation of the sacrifice of Christ:

“Who … when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3).

Peace is an accomplished fact; and God is so satisfied with that sacrifice for our sins that He has placed His Son at the right hand of His own throne in glory to prove it.

God always sees the believer as clothed in all the merits of that sacrifice, which washed away all his sins once for all and obtained eternal redemption for him (Heb. 9:12). Therefore, God’s attitude of peace towards the believer is unchanging because the sacrifice upon which it is based is perfect.

However, the measure to which the believer enjoys it may vary greatly. If we get self-occupied we may lose the sense of it. We can only enjoy it as we rest in full assurance of faith in the sacrifice of Christ.

We may know that God is at peace with us through Christ and still not have a sense of the peace of God ruling in our hearts.

Sin may bring us under the chastening hand of God. In chastening, He is only seeking to deliver us from those things which are robbing our souls of the enjoyment of His peace (See Heb. 12:5–11). He chastens in love, not counting us as enemies, but always as His well-beloved children.

OBEDIENCE NEEDED

The conscience enlightened by the Word of God demands obedience to God who loves us and has redeemed us. If we do those things which displease Him, or if we leave undone things He wants us to do, our conscience accuses us and inward conflict results. We have no peace because we cannot quiet the voice of our conscience.

Besides the conscience, every believer in Christ also has the Spirit of God abiding in him (See Rom. 8:9,15; Eph. 1:13; Gal. 4:6; 1 Cor. 6:19). One activity of the Spirit of God is to bring to our hearts the love of God, and to show the things of Christ to us (Rom. 5:5; Jn. 16:14). Both give joy and peace to the soul, but

“the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another” (Gal. 5:17).

The constant effort of the Spirit of God is to oppose the flesh and prompt us to do the will of God in obedience to the Word of God.

If we yield to the flesh we throw ourselves into conflict not only with our conscience, but also with the Spirit.

On the other hand, if we yield to the Holy Spirit and to our conscience, He gives us the strength to do the will of God. And what happens then? Instead of inward conflict, we are in harmony with God, His Word, and His Spirit; and consequently we enjoy a deeper sense of His love and a fuller measure of His joy and peace.

When we walk in obedience to God’s revealed will, we enjoy His love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (1 Jn. 4:9; Rom. 5:5–8). Then we can say,

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31).

Trouble may be all around, but we will not fear because Psalm 4:8 tells us:

“I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

If we are disobedient, the peace of His presence will be lost and our conscience will accuse us while the Holy Spirit convicts us.

When the Word of God is neglected, the soul does not enjoy peace. The power of God, which gave the heart confidence while walking with Him, will now work to humble us.

We will meet with disappointment. Plans will be overthrown. Things we thought would be sweet to the taste become bitter. He uses circumstances to make us taste the bitterness of disobedience and to break down self-will. His chastening hand is felt.