Make God happy?

Make God happy? It's a silly question ... How do you try to make an invisible being happy? If you are happy, should God be happy? If you make God happy, how can you be happy? Last week, we talked about happiness as a condition that the body has when looking for this elixir, pumping our neurotransmitters and causing a feeling of euphoria. We achieve this elixir of happiness by taking possession of our prize. In that quick moment, he disappeared in the blink of an eye, called buyer's remorse. Proverbs 15:15 says, "Every day the afflicted are evil, but a joyful heart has an ongoing feast." It is a state of pleasure or joy that changes with our situation. I think that's why we have pictures like "happy camper", "happy accident", "as happy as a clam", "happy like a lark" and "as happy as the day is long", for just name a few. So can we be happy and make God happy?

Well, I'm in favor of an "old fashioned happy ending". And you? Or do you want a new happy ending? The pursuit and achievement of happiness are as old as the hills. What is different are the "things" that we identify with happiness. In fact, these things ARE happiness, or at least we believe it.

Scientists have done many studies that include open acts of happiness such as laughter, a smile, and music involving people. They discovered that these acts have a profound effect on the human body, reducing tension, relaxing the tissues and exercising the vital organs. Happiness has positive effects both mentally and physically in each of us.

The world sees happiness as to how much you can buy, how many toys you can buy before launching the cube. The more you get, the happier you are. Wealth, power and influence define happiness in this context. As the photo says ... "the more you have, the happier you are".

What is true happiness? It is a mental state, not a condition of the body. True happiness does not depend on the circumstances but on our mood. We frame our vision of life through our vision of the individual world. Incorporate our present being whatever the state, integrity, integrity, dissension, obedience, disobedience, disorder, freedom, feelings, hostility, imperfection, inaction, the maturity and perfection (strengths) that associate it with our emotional state. This emotion can vary from a feeling of wonder, calm, compassion, contempt, cruelty, desire, expectation, hope, affection, pain, taste, passion, pleasure, pride, trust, security, zeal, and satisfaction. Both attributes supposedly imply happiness or are not so happy.

The Bible has several words for happiness. The Hebrew ESHER, (eh´-sher) translates: blessed, blessed and happy. Here is a sample of the verses: Deuteronomy 33:29 "Blessed are you, Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, who is the shield of your help and the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will shrink before you from you, and you will go up on its high places. "Psalm 32: 2" How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deception!" 2 Chronicles 9: 7 "What is the blessing of your men, what blessing are your servants who are continually before you and listen to your wisdom" This is the Old Testament (OT) which refers to a mental state, not to the body.

The ancient Romans and Greeks were skeptical and did not believe that things brought happiness. Its economy was based on scarcity and partial consumption. Our economy is based on consumption with many innovations, where there are many wonderful things available and we must consume them to maintain condition and momentum. Greeks and Romans mistrusted our concept of happiness.

The name MAKARIOS appears in Romans 14:22 "The faith that you have, you have your own conviction before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves." Verse 23 "But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his food is not of faith, and what is not of faith is sin." I have included verse 23 because it explains the theme of the verse a little more. Happy means blessed in context, but it is related to faith. In 1 John 3:21 "Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we trust God." What is this confidence? We start with faith progressing towards trust, but where does it come from?

1 John 3:22 expands the concept "and whatever we ask of it, we receive, because we keep his commandments and do things that please him." A partial picture begins to appear in the big question: "Do we make God happy?" Happiness depends on respecting our commandments and doing things that are pleasing to them. Well, it's quite simple. It suffices to discover three keywords: 1) command 2) pleasant and 3) confidence (faith and conviction).

Before we head to these three keywords, let's take a look at the elephant in the room: things. We have, we bring, we do and we acquire things all the time. As a human race, we love these things. It is interesting in the Old Testament that there is not much discussion of things (for all their wanderings?). In the New Testament, there are many more discussions about two types of "things." First: some things are pleasing to your eyes and second: things that are not pleasing to your eyes.

Our definition of “thing” comes from the dictionary of Merriam-Webster University which says: “An entity, an idea or a quality perceived, known or intended to have its own existence”. It can be an object, an article, something and anything wrapped in the word "thing". It's powerful enough, but the Bible is not of the 21st century, so what did it mean at the time it was written?

The Bible has two time periods: the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). In the Old Testament, the word "thing" (word, matter, subject) is represented by the Hebrew word DAVAR. These were not real tangible things, but thoughts, facts, and situations. Earlier, I mentioned that it was not a question of consumption, but of the production of their food, clothing, and accommodation amid a very hostile environment.

In the New Testament (NT), 630 verses use the equivalent word "thing" in 74 Greek variants of the word, each with a different meaning and flavor. “Things” changed between the Old and New Testaments, when Rome was an urban empire. People living in cities consumed raw resources, while peasants and war machines produced this raw material and then transported it to cities.

When the Bible uses the word "thing" or "things," it refers to human activity in the form of situations, relationships, articles, or needs. By subtracting the needs of life, we only have the details of daily life. The Greek language is very cunning. The philosophers of the time knew the dangers of the details which entailed distraction and destruction. They knew the importance of doing the right thing in the right way at the right time. You could almost say they were obsessed with it.

In our quest to answer the question "Make God happy?", We have covered two sections of this ongoing series. The first article discussed the biological function of the body in researching, researching and achieving the things that produce happiness in a consuming environment. It is not happiness, just an ephemeral desire. The second article uses the Bible for definitions that establish keywords: command, pleasure, and trust. Then we turn to the elephant in the room: things (the smallest details in our life) that don't make God happy.

Next week, we will discuss the first of the three keywords: "command," using the Bible as a point of reference for some important facts that do not change in a changing world. Following his commandments makes God happy. Until then, may God be with you!

Learn the secrets of how past (present) and future trends (things) blend into God's plan without affecting our freedoms or freedoms; The pursuit of happiness. Apparently unrelated events are invisibly linked by our human nature and the creation of God! Join me on a journey from the revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John in the book series "Oops, a revelation.