I wasn't sure if it was a blessing in disguise or a hardship to be endured. I was in Seattle on a long anticipated business trip and would be away from my family for two weeks.
As expected, within a couple of days of being there I began to miss them. It's funny how when you miss someone you begin to remember things differently. You don't remember the disagreements, nagging kids to clean up their rooms, or the little things that constantly go wrong from day-to-day. No, what you remember is the laughter, the love, and the good things. And that is how it should be. If we didn't focus on the good things in life it would become very easy to be depressed.
But reality returns quickly. The day I returned I settled right back in to the hectic and frustrated pace of daily life. You certainly know what I mean. The chore that I expected to take five minutes somehow takes all day. The argument over something so trivial that I've forgotten what started it. My mile long "to do" list that seems to grow longer every day.
It's so easy to find myself unhappy due to the circumstances of my life. But then the Holy Spirit whispers to my heart "what did you expect"? This stops me in my tracks for a moment and I am reminded of three fundamental truths.
1. We live in a fallen world where even the best things in it are imperfect.
Scripture teaches us that the taint of sin has scarred all of creation and that until that glorious day when God restores creation, we will have to deal with it. In fact God is using that very imperfect world to shape who we are. This is not to say that we accept sin as "normal," rather it is a reminder that we will not eliminate sin or its effects this side of heaven.
2. We live in a world full of broken people who do wrong.
Every one of us has been affected by sin and still struggle with it. Some of us have admitted that fact and are on the road to recovery through God's plan of restoration in Christ Jesus. Others reject that truth, believing whatever desires they have are normal and don't need to be resisted. But whether or not we accept or reject God's remedy for our fallen condition, no one can deny the reality of evil and the consequences we see every day. Expecting no conflict in this situation is like believing you don't need need to lock your doors at night. It's a beautiful thought but its not reality.
3. We live in the midst of a spiritual war.
Right now all around us in the non-physical realm are beings undetectable to our five native senses. Though non-physical, they are real and have a profound impact on our world. These beings work by affecting our minds. They do so by inserting ideas into our stream of consciousness or by affirming some of our own erroneous thoughts. Perhaps you can recall a random malevolent thought crossing your mind. These evil thoughts are their sometimes clumsy attempts that we might occasionally notice. Usually the effect is so subtle we don't even recognize that a particular thought is not our own. The most effective of these thoughts contain grains of truth distorted in some way.
Given these three truths, why am I so surprised when things don't go the way I want them too? Should I be surprised that conflict seems to be a perpetual phenomenon? Just as hardship and conflict exist on a battlefield, they exist in this fallen world. I need to align my expectations with this reality. I need to not make make my happiness contingent on my situation, relationships, or circumstances. Allowing these things to dictate my happiness is a recipe for perpetual unhappiness.
Instead of linking happiness to things always going my way, I must learn to find my satisfaction in the person of Christ. It's in surrendering to Him as the sovereign creator of all, believing that He is good, and entrusting Him with my life. To miss this, is to miss the very reason I exist. So what about you? Are you hanging your hat of happiness on the peg of your circumstances? Are you willing to try another way?
~ Truly Free
