{"id":4292,"date":"2011-12-20T23:26:44","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T23:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2011-12-20T23:26:44","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T23:26:44","slug":"what-struggling-to-redefine-happiness-really-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/4292\/what-struggling-to-redefine-happiness-really-means\/","title":{"rendered":"What “struggling to redefine happiness” really means"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bro. John,<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m feeling really thankful right now. I have read so much about how “people are struggling to redefine happiness as traditional roles and values change” (the sentence always goes something like that), but it always leaves me with a sad feeling.<\/span><\/p>\n

What they’re really saying is something along the lines of, “Now that people are forsaking even more of the basic, biblical sense of right and wrong, they’re becoming more at ease with sin.”<\/span><\/p>\n

I realized just now that I don’t have to “struggle to redefine” anything because the spirit in me tells me what’s either right or wrong. What a big deal! It seems way less exhausting.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beverly<\/span>
\n ============<\/span><\/p>\n

Hi Beverly!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Good to hear from you!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

True happiness does not have a definition. It never has had one. Happiness is altogether a feeling, a matter of the heart and spirit. It’s substance is not something that any dictionary can capture. Happiness is the fruit, the end result, of making right choices and living a truly good life.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I am not surprised that college professors and social engineers are now are trying to define happiness, and to define it in a way that denies this confused generation’s need of it. In what Jesus called “a sinful and adulterous generation”, happiness is lost. Some generations in the past also lost their happiness through foolishness and sin and then regained it by humbling themselves to God and changing their lifestyles. But a generation that adds stubbornness and pride to its sinfulness refuses to change, or even to admit they need to. Instead, they just claim to be happy, and define happiness in terms that their unhappy hearts can meet.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But we cannot make ourselves truly happy by claiming to be happy. Happiness is a gift from God, not a work of man. It is far beyond the power of man to bring about his own judgment or to determine what he will reap for what he sows. We can, for certain, choose how we will live, but after that, we have no choice at all. God alone is Judge of our deeds, and unfortunately for the wicked, He is a righteous one.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks for writing, Beverly. Keep traveling the road you are on. Jesus has given you wisdom beyond all your teachers.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Pastor John<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bro. John, I’m feeling really thankful right now. I have read so much about how “people are struggling to redefine happiness as traditional roles and values change” (the sentence always goes something like that), but it always leaves me with a sad feeling. What they’re really saying is something along the lines of, “Now that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}