Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 43

50 Days of Heaven, and a Free Devotional Study Guide You Can Use

My life has been shaped by all kinds of writings that have pointed me to God’s Book. As an author, I love writing different books to reach more people in more ways, by God’s grace, with the life-changing truths of His Word.

I wrote 50 Days of Heaven by selecting the material most suitable from my book Heaven for a devotional, then rewriting it in a different style. Why write different sized books on one subject? Because they’re designed to reach different audiences with varying interests and preferences. The big books, like Heaven, are for pastors, teachers and serious Bible students who want to dig in and explore the depths of what Scripture and theologians say. They’re not meant for those who want a quick read and prefer small books or devotionals. (Though I have to say that the publisher and I have both been amazed that the great majority of readers of the big Heaven book are not pastors and teachers—they are laypeople eager to know the truth about Heaven and therefore willing to make an exception and read a very large book.)

Likewise, those who want a thorough treatment of a subject want more than what small books offer. As in The Three Bears, for some the small version is “just right.” But the right fit for Baby Bear or Goldilocks is the wrong fit for Papa or Mama Bear!

That’s exactly why I write books that are big, medium, and small, some more comprehensive, others more devotional, some for children, some for comic-lovers, some for those who enjoy murder mysteries. Not all people are alike, so not all books should be. It’s my joy and privilege to write different books on different subjects for different people, meeting different needs.

Speaking of 50 Days, our ministry now offers a free study guide to go along with the book. It was originally submitted to us by a kind reader, and then several of our staff further edited and further refined it. I appreciate all the work that was put into it, and I really believe that for many people, this might make a better study than the big Heaven book. A group could work through a few of the daily devotionals in a week, and then meet together to discuss the study questions.

Why study the subject of Heaven? Because it is the Christian’s certain hope, a hope that can and should sustain us through life’s darkest hours. But this doesn’t happen automatically. We must choose to think about Heaven and center our lives around it: “Set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand. …Let heaven fill your thoughts” (Colossians 3:1-2).

May God give us the grace to live today with eternity in view!

Happiness: Good News Worth Sharing

G. K. Chesterton has been widely credited with saying, “Jesus promised His disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.” It might be argued that most Western Christians aren’t any of these three . . . but least of all “absurdly happy.”

We tend to perceive Christianity as being about tradition and morality, not happiness. I make no apology for believing in morality. But some Christians, in the name of moral obligation, wear frowns, dutifully living a paint-by-the-numbers religious existence, and proudly refraining from what “lesser” people do to be happy. They seem to wear their displeasure as a badge of honor.

Gloomy Christians don’t win friends or invite gospel curiosity.

Hannah Whitall Smith, author of long-time bestseller The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, was raised in a religious home. She recorded these thoughts about churchgoers in her journal, years before coming to Christ:

Some look almost as if they think it is a sin to smile or speak a pleasant word. It appears to me that religion is supposed to make one happy, not miserable and disagreeable. . . . Instead of a cheerful voice there is a long, drawing, melancholy whisper . . . instead of love and concern for those who have not yet found the path of life . . . there is a cool standoffishness, a feeling of “I’m better than you”— that effectually closes off the slightest opening… And so, instead of the noble, beautiful, humble, liberal-minded, and happy religion I have so often pictured to myself, I see it as cross, gloomy, proud, bigoted, and narrow minded.

Sadly, some people still misrepresent Christianity this way, and equally sadly, some attempt to solve the problem not by drawing near to Christ but by watering down biblical truth to make it more appealing. The gospel is attacked on both fronts—on the one hand, stripped of its intrinsic happiness and on the other, stripped of its holy uniqueness and ability to deliver happiness.

After her conversion, Smith wrote to her son, “The Gospel is good news, something to make people happy; not a law to bind them.”

Unbelievers have valid reasons to fear that becoming a Christian will result in their unhappiness.

They’ve known—as many of us churchgoers have also known—professing Christians who go out of their way to promote misery, not gladness.

I’ve seen Bible-believing, Christ-centered people post thoughts on a blog or on social media only to receive a string of hypercritical responses from people who wield Scripture verses like pickaxes, swiftly condemning the slightest hint of a viewpoint they consider suspicious. How is it that perpetual disdain, suspicion, unkindness, and hostility are seen as taking the spiritual high ground? If I were an unbeliever reading such responses, I certainly wouldn’t be drawn to the Christian faith.

In refreshing contrast, J. C. Ryle said, “I assert without hesitation, that the conversion described in Scripture is a happy thing and not a miserable one, and that if converted persons are not happy, the fault must be in themselves. . . . I am confident the converted man is the happiest man.”

Charles Spurgeon loved to connect the gospel and happiness: “There is nothing that more tends to strengthen the faith of the young believer than to hear the veteran Christian, covered with scars from the battle, testifying that the service of his Master is a happy service...”

Believers too often reinforce the Grumpy Christian Stereotype.

Some professing Christians feel morally superior to those who engage with culture, and as a result, they major on making world-condemning judgments. They refrain from laughing not just at immoral jokes but any jokes. They assume that barbecues and ball games are the spawn of sin. Grim-faced pharisaical “Christians” make Satan’s propaganda campaign far easier by undermining the Good News and promoting a negative view of happiness.

“Affirming that by transgression of God’s commandments [Adam and Eve] might attain to felicity and joy . . . [the devil] caused them to seek life where God had pronounced death to be,” wrote John Knox. God created the physical world and happiness. But the devil doesn’t have a single shred of happiness to give. He specializes in rearranging price tags, making the cheap look valuable and the miserable appear happy.

Consider satirist and journalist H. L. Mencken’s definition of Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” (On the contrary, Puritans, judging by their writings, were some of the happiest people who have ever lived! Considerably happier, judging by his writings, than H. L. Mencken.)

Paul, an apostle, wrote, “When we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers received us gladly” (Acts 21:17). A Bible translation lexicon (Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament) states, “The word asmenos here means ‘pertaining to experiencing happiness, implying ready and willing acceptance—happily, gladly.’”

Following this welcome are stories of the gospel’s impact on Gentiles and a celebration of how the Holy Spirit was strengthening Christ’s church. Such a happy gathering is a timeless model for believers in any era who face difficult issues.

The pervasive happiness of the New Testament church stands in stark contrast to what the English poet Algernon Swinburne said about Jesus: “Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean: The world has grown grey from thy breath.”Swinburne believed Jesus sucked the life out of the supposed vibrancy paganism had infused into the world.

G. K. Chesterton commented on Swinburne’s words:

I rolled on my tongue with a terrible joy, as did all young men of that time, the taunts which Swinburne hurled at the dreariness of the creed. . . . But when I read the same poet’s accounts of paganism . . . I gathered that the world was, if possible, more gray before the Galilean breathed on it than afterwards. The poet maintained . . . that life itself was pitch dark. . . . The very man who denounced Christianity for pessimism was himself a pessimist . . . and it did for one wild moment cross my mind that, perhaps, those might not be the very best judges of the relation of religion to happiness who, by their own account, had neither one nor the other.

Happiness in Christ is one of our most powerful evangelistic tools.

Throughout history, the Christian worldview has accounted for such happiness-generating developments as hospitals and schools, science and industry, music, drama, and the arts. And on a more personal level, nearly every community includes people with quiet confidence in Christ who are extraordinarily loving, kind, helpful, and cheerful. They gladly give of their time and money to those in need. Such people are rarely in the public eye, but they certainly exist. Sadly, however, to many people, they seem to be the exception rather than the rule.

Christopher Parkening, considered by many to be the world’s greatest classical guitarist, achieved his musical dreams by the age of thirty. By then he was also a world-class fly-fishing champion.

However, his successes failed to bring him happiness. Weary of performances and recording sessions, Parkening bought a ranch and gave up on the guitar. He wrote, “If you arrive at a point in your life where you have everything that you’ve ever wanted and thought would make you happy and it still doesn’t, then you start questioning things… I thought, ‘Well, what’s left?’”

While visiting friends, he attended church and put his faith in Christ. Parkening developed a hunger for Scripture and was struck by 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (NIV).

He explains, “I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish for trout and play the guitar. Well, I am playing the guitar today absolutely by the grace of God. . . . I have a joy, a peace, and a deep-down fulfillment in my life I never had before. My life has purpose. . . . I’ve learned first-hand the true secret of genuine happiness.”

John Piper says, “If you ask me, ‘Doesn’t the world need to see Christians as happy in order to know the truth of our faith and be drawn to the great Savior?’ my answer is ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ And they need to see that our happiness is the indomitable work of Christ in the midst of our sorrow.”

Excerpted from Randy's book Happiness. Browse more resources on the topic of happiness, and see his other related books, including  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo by Sam Lion

How Mothers Shape Future Men

Note from Randy: I think this article by Abigail Dodds, the author of (A)Typical Woman: Free, Whole, and Called in Christ and a regular contributor to Desiring God, is wonderful. Having raised two daughters, I’m deeply grateful for our sons-in-law, and their families who raised them to be men of character and faith. And now Angela and Karina are the moms of our five grandsons, who they are raising to know and love Jesus. (Note: I say “our” instead of “my” not out of habit or nostalgia, but simply because my Nanci, though she has relocated to another place, is more alive than ever before.)

Whether you’re a mom to young boys or not, I think you’ll find what Abigail shares helpful and insightful. (You might also enjoy the book Devoted: Great Men and Their Godly Moms by Tim Challies, about how women shaped men who changed the world.)

For Mothers of Future Men

If you look at the beginning of Proverbs 31, you might find a surprise. The chapter includes not simply the famous portrait of an excellent wife but also the teaching and influence of a godly mother on her son. Proverbs 31 begins with the recitation of a king. And what is he reciting? He’s reciting “an oracle that his mother taught him” (Proverbs 31:1).

What are you doing, my son? What are you doing, son of my womb?
     What are you doing, son of my vows?
Do not give your strength to women,
     your ways to those who destroy kings.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel,
     it is not for kings to drink wine,
     or for rulers to take strong drink,
lest they drink and forget what has been decreed
     and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. (Proverbs 31:2–5)

Verse 10 begins the more famous portion of Proverbs 31, but it’s worth noting that King Lemuel is continuing to recite his mother’s teaching.

An excellent wife who can find?
     She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
     and he will have no lack of gain. (Proverbs 31:10–11)

If our sons were asked about the most common teaching of their moms, what might their answers be? What sort of teaching characterizes our commands?

What Does Mom Say Most?

Our most common commands might be mainly safety-oriented: “Always wash your hands before you eat.” “Wear sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher.” “Don’t forget your bike helmet or seatbelt.” Those are not necessarily bad commands. But if they are the primary teaching of a mother to a son, they will not keep a son safe, but handicap him.

Perhaps your teaching is mainly practical: “Be sure to clean your room and make your bed every day.” “Finish all the food on your plate.” “Always be on time.” “Waste not, want not.” These are not bad commands; often they’re good and helpful. Yet, if those commands are left to themselves, without a foundation of weightier instruction, they will provide only earthly help without eternal benefit.

King Lemuel’s mother taught him two very important lessons: (1) how to avoid temptation so he could rule as king, and (2) how to find and value an excellent wife. In other words, his mother taught him how to be a man. And sons today still need mothers who can help teach them how to be wise, just, loving, good men, if not quite kings.

Our sons need to learn how to be heads of a household — perhaps also leaders of businesses, churches, or governments — and men who know what to look for in a wife. That means they need moms who can instruct them in how to judge between right and wrong, true and false, good and best. And between an excellent wife and an evil woman — because evil women actually exist, and our sons need to avoid them.

Mothers instruct their sons in the importance of being a son, a boy, a man. Mothers help sons know what clothes are fitting for a boy versus a girl. They help them know what manners and mannerisms are appropriate for a young man. While our sons are young, and especially during the teenage years, mothers should keep an eye out to help their sons become godly men — not mom’s protégé, not mimicking her femininity. Moms remind sons that their broad shoulders are not meant to slouch, but to carry heavier loads for the sake of others.

Guarding from Sexual Confusion

Mothers need to wisely, shrewdly translate the wisdom of King Lemuel’s mother to the world we live in today, where it’s not just a king-destroying woman or the dangers of drunkenness he needs to avoid — it’s all manner of perversity and addiction. We need to help our sons avoid the enticements of the LGBTQ+ madness, to learn self-control when it comes to phones and technology, to avoid the deceitful euphemisms that have found their way into some churches, like “pronoun hospitality” or “gender-affirming care” or “reproductive freedom.”

Our sons may not be solicited on the street by a prostitute, but they will likely meet with some sinister images or a person who tempts them online. Without the warnings and cautions and roadblocks, and the faith-filled prayers of their godly mothers restraining them, they will be tempted to respond to the sexual advances of perverse men and women who seek them out in the unseen places of the Internet. Or, at the very least, they will be tempted to make light of those who do indulge such perversity — they will be tempted to affirm what God calls an abomination (Romans 1:32).

Home as a Mirror of Mothers

We mothers also need to show our children, and perhaps especially our teenage sons, the respite and safe haven of a Christian home, where God’s ways are normal, and the gospel is for them, and repentance and forgiveness are quick and ongoing, and God’s friendship is for those who fear him. We need to be mothers like the excellent woman in Proverbs 31, the one King Lemuel’s mother told him about:

Strength and dignity are her clothing,
     and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
     and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household
     and does not eat the bread of idleness. (Proverbs 31:25–27)

God calls us mothers to look well to the ways of our household. We make and keep the home, so home is often a reflection of us, of our own godliness, maturity, submission to our husband, and conformity to Christ — or the lack of all those things. The atmosphere inside the home can be stale and tense and smothering or full of clean air and light hearts. The rhythms of our home will either indulge or discourage idleness.

We can wear the strength and confidence and dignity of a mother who fears God and entrusts herself to Christ, or we can make anxious people-pleasing or selfish strife our default setting.

From Teenage Sons to Godly Men

Remember that our homes are testifying and speaking to our children. It’s likely that our sons will not verbally give us up-to-the-minute details of all that is in their hearts, but their hearts are either being softened to God and his ways or hardened to them. Our home life either authenticates the gospel and the goodness of God’s commands, or it misrepresents those things and becomes a stumbling block through our own hypocrisy. We can speak the words and warnings of life to our sons, or we can prefer safety-oriented rules and practical instruction over the weightier goal of godly manhood.

It’s easy to think that our growing teenage sons don’t really need their mothers. And certainly they don’t need us the same way they did when they were little. They don’t need our constant physical care; they need the wise and godly oracles of their mom telling them how to avoid worldly temptations, and what true justice is, and how to find a good wife. They need to know the respect and love and friendship and counsel and prayers of their godly mother.

They don’t need to be smothered or controlled or manipulated or used. They don’t need to be pitied or babied or coddled. But they do still need their godly mothers to offer wise and repeated instructions on how to be a man while showing them the contagious joy of a woman who fears the Lord.

The article originally appeared on Desiring God , and is used with permission of the author.

Photo by Taryn Elliott

16 Questions about Heaven and the New Earth

I always enjoy anytime I get to have a conversation with Sean McDowell, who teaches at Biola/Talbot and has a very engaging and helpful YouTube channel on apologetics. Sean and I did another Q&A on Heaven recently, with some different questions and answers.

How did your belief in Heaven frame your loss of your wife? (1:00)
How do you deal with doubt? (3:31)
What gives you hope? (6:02)
Is Heaven real? (8:26)
How will Heaven be exciting if there’s no risk? (13:25)
Are there animals in Heaven? (16:40)
How about our pets? (20:15)
How can we enjoy Heaven if some of our loved ones are not there? (22:53)
Can people sin in Heaven? (26:53)
Will there be external temptation? (29:50)
Are there sports in Heaven? (34:12)
Will we eat and drink in Heaven? (38:00)
Will we be able to fly? (41:02)
How will our bodies be similar/different in the eternal Heaven? (45:06)
How old will we be in Heaven? (48:30)
How do eternal rewards work?  (51:12)

Sean kindly mentioned my book The Promise of the New Earth, which combines teaching about Heaven, with beautiful photography. It’s available from our online store and from Amazon.

Photo by Cristian Manieri

Does the Bible Really Speak of Us Having “Glory” Someday?

I was recently asked this great question:

The word “glory” keeps coming up in my reading of Scripture. I read about the “weight of glory” in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” And, “For I consider [from the standpoint of faith] that the sufferings of the present life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us!” (Romans 8:18 AMP). It’s not a stretch to understand the “Glory of God.” The point I’m trying to grasp is about believers participating in glory. It seems that several verses point that out, but I haven’t heard glory used outside of talking about God/Jesus. Even my verse of the day today speaks of us having a form of glory: “Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory” (Romans 5:2, NLT).

The idea of us having the “glory” someday is hard to wrap my mind around. Can you help clarify?

The three tenses/stages of salvation are redemption in our past, sanctification in our present, and glorification in our future. Some Christians struggle with the idea of believers participating in glory because they think glory belongs to God alone. But future glory also belongs to those on whom God chooses to endow it—His children and especially His most faithful children in this life. He is the one who glorifies His people. Daniel 12:3 says, “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever."

It brings to mind what C.S. Lewis wrote in his essay “The Weight of Glory”:

And this brings me to the other sense of glory—glory as brightness, splendour, luminosity.
We are to shine as the sun, we are to be given the Morning Star.

…There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

Here is what Got Questions says:

…Paul makes a marvelous statement in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (ESV). This “weight of glory” speaks of the relative insignificance of our present, earthly suffering in contrast with the magnitude of resurrection life and eternal salvation. Our corruptible bodies will experience the same resurrection power that raised Jesus Christ to life: “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).

The Contemporary English Version expresses 2 Corinthians 4:17 as follows: “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.” Our present sufferings are so light and fleeting, they weigh less than a feather and pass in the blink of an eye when compared to the hefty wonders that await us in our future glorified state.

Paul was confident, and we can be, too, that all believers will receive their eternal reward—the weight of glory—in the new heavens and new earth. We can take courage, knowing the difficulties we experience now are minor when compared to all that God has in store for us in heaven.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul urges believers to keep their eyes focused on the eternal prize of heaven: “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever” (NLT).

At present, we only have a veiled glimpse of the weight of glory. We don’t fully know everything we will experience in heaven. (1 Corinthians 2:9; 13:12). But we do know it will be glorious and filled with the unparalleled riches of God’s grace: “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6–7).

One day, we won’t just enter into God’s presence and enter into His happiness; we will enter into His glory. In order to share Christ’s glory forever on the New Earth, we must share His sufferings temporarily on the fallen Earth.

When the New Testament discusses suffering, it repeatedly puts Heaven before the eyes of believers. Sadly, many churches fail to follow this example. When we say nothing about God’s eternal purposes in trials, or put our hope in a health and wealth gospel, or hope only in medical advances, we rob God’s people of an eternal perspective.

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Romans 8:17). Paul says we will become Christ’s heirs and share in His glory if we share in His sufferings. No suffering, no glory.

F. F. Bruce writes, “It is not merely that the glory is a compensation for the suffering; it actually grows out of the suffering. There is an organic relation between the two for the believer as surely as there was for his Lord.”

As Romans 8:18 emphasizes, our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the future glory that God and we and others will see in us. Paul offers a one-word answer to the question, “Why suffering?” He replies, “Glory.” Glory is a state of high honor, involving a brilliant, radiant beauty. Our glory is secondary, not primary. We are not its source, God is. He is the sun who shines upon us, bestowing an eternal glory rooted in Himself, purchased for us by His suffering on the cross. God will be glorified by imparting His honor to us and sharing it with us.

Here was my answer when I was asked more about Romans 8:18.

God’s promise of glory doesn’t minimize our suffering, of course; Paul affirms we will experience great sufferings (see Romans 8). Only an immeasurably greater glory can eclipse our present suffering—and that is exactly what will happen. Romans 8:18 says God will not create that glory, but will reveal it. It’s already there—just not yet manifested.

The treasures we’ll enjoy won’t lie only outside us, but, Paul says, “in us.” God uses suffering to achieve the glorious transformation of our characters to prepare us for service and joy in the next life.

God will not simply wait for our deaths, then snap his fingers to make us what he wants us to be. He begins that process here and now, using our suffering to help us grow in Christlikeness. Phillips renders Romans 8:19, “The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.” As a master artist’s magnum opus awaits unveiling at an exhibit, so our Christlikeness, forged in suffering, awaits revealing at the Master’s perfect time.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book  If God Is Good , as well as the devotional  90 Days of God’s Goodness  and book  The Goodness of God . For more on eternity, see Randy's book Heaven . 

Photo by Ilja Tulit on Unsplash

The Truth About Truth

“If there is no absolute beyond man’s ideas, then there is no final appeal to judge between individuals and groups whose moral judgments conflict. We are merely left with conflicting opinions.” —Francis Schaeffer

Of all truths in the universe, the most important is the truth of who Jesus is. After all, Truth is not merely an impersonal moral standard. It is a living Person who loved us so much He bears on His hands eternal scars because He rescued us.

“Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life” (John 6:47, NIV). The phrase “truly I tell you” appears 79 times in Scripture, 78 times spoken by Jesus. He is the Truth, and He tells the truth. We can fully trust everything He says. His promises are written in blood.

Truth exists whether or not anyone believes it.

“’You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.

Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’

‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate” (John 18:37-38a, NIV).

What is truth? It is reality. When Pilate said of Jesus, “I find no basis for a charge against him” (John 18:38b, NIV), he affirmed what he believed and what was indeed true: Jesus was innocent.

Truth-claims are exclusive. Jesus didn’t say He was a truth, but “the truth” (John 14:6). If someone says Jesus isn’t the primary truth, then either he’s wrong or Jesus is.

If we grasp this truth, we’ll undergo the ultimate paradigm shift: without Christ, any sacrifice we make is worthless. We are miserable without Jesus. Nothing we have can satisfy us. And even if it did, we couldn’t hold on to it.

When we hear Jesus tell us to take up our crosses and follow Him and say we should lose our lives for His sake, we’re tempted to think, “Then I will never be happy.” But in fact, Jesus is saying our short-term sacrifices for Him are a means to an end, and that end is true and abundant life: “Whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39, NIV).

Theologian John Brown wrote, “He who believes the truth enters on the enjoyment of a happiness which is of the same nature, and springs from the same sources, as the happiness of God.”

Have you had a heart transplant?

Scripture is full of disheartening diagnoses, including that “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9, NIV).

But the Great Physician must tell us this hard truth so we can say, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10, ESV). The Physician also promises, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees” (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NIV).

Words that at first may sting us deeply don’t mean we’re without hope, only that we cannot cure ourselves. But God has provided the cure: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV).

Eternal life is not found by believing in just any god but by believing in the “only true God.” False gods, both religious and secular, litter the landscape. “Jesus prayed, ‘Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent’” (John 17:3, NIV). The only true God is the one who sent the only true Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us more than eternal existence. He gives us eternal life: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:4-6, ESV).

This great truth all hinges on the person and work of none other than Jesus.

God’s best and most perfect gift to us is Jesus Himself.

“All things were created through him and for him…and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17, NIV).

If everything that comes into our lives is Father-filtered, how can we be anything less than optimistic? Our optimism is based squarely on realism: Jesus is real, atonement is real, resurrection is real, Heaven is real, and the Gospel really is “good news.”

William Temple wrote, “The only thing of our very own which we contribute to our salvation is the sin which makes it necessary.” And Scripture tells us that apart from Christ, we were “dead in [our] sins.” This sounds like bad news since a corpse can’t raise itself from the grave.

Salvation is a gift: we contribute absolutely nothing. When Jesus called Lazarus from the tomb, He did the work, not Lazarus. Salvation depends on God’s mercy and His faithfulness to His promises.

Faith saves us, and we stay saved because of the sustaining, persevering work of God in our lives. The “good news” includes the fact that we needn’t live in fear of losing our salvation: “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28, NIV).

Our source of comfort is the truth that not only will we be with the Lord in Heaven, but also that we’ll be with each other. In Heaven, God will delight in His children’s love for each other. As we walk and talk and laugh together, He’ll take as much pleasure in it as we do.

“If God is your co-pilot, swap seats!” (Max Lucado)

Psalm 86 tells us that we must learn the ways of God in order to walk in the ways of God. Jesus said, “Come to me…Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” (Matthew 11:28-29, NIV).

Walk in God’s truth, and then you’ll be in the position to receive His daily guidance. A.W. Tozer said, “Practice the truth and we may with propriety speak the truth.”

All human claims to greatness and sovereignty are pretensions. When Herod took credit for godlike powers, he breathed his last, while the God-breathed Word grew.

A crowd, seeing someone jump to escape a skyscraper fire, could vote unanimously to suspend the law of gravity. What difference would that make?

We can’t negotiate God’s truth any more than we can negotiate gravity.

Have the courage to ask Christ to show you what He really wants for your life—not what others want for you, but what He knows is right for you. Listen to His Word for the answers, and call upon Him to show you the truth and empower you to live it.

For more on this topic, see Randy’s book  The Grace and Truth Paradox .

Photo by RODNAE Productions

Isn’t Abortion a Private Issue Between a Woman and God?

In our culture, it’s common to hear some variation of, “Abortion is no one else’s business. That’s a decision between a woman and her doctor.” Others might say, “Abortion is an issue between a woman and God.” I give a response in this 2-minute audio clip. One of our EPM staff members also answered a similar question from a reader who wrote our ministry, expressing concerns about my prolife convictions.

I do hope you’ll avail yourself of my book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life: Examining 15 Pro-Choice Claims—What Do Facts & Common Sense Tell Us? It’s available to read for free online, and the print book is available for a low cost, making it great for ministries and churches to share.

Someone wrote EPM to say:

Randy, I know you and your wife are so pro-life, and I understand your feelings and beliefs, and I don’t like abortions either, but I don’t believe it’s your decision to make. I believe it’s between the pregnant woman and God. She knows how God feels about it. Everyone knows how God feels about it. 

Can you imagine your 10-year-old daughter being raped and then pregnant, and what a pregnancy will do to her mentally and physically? I believe the unborn child will go to Heaven and be with Jesus and will be loved so much.

I can’t even download your book Pro-Choice or Pro-Life? because I’m afraid it will make me not want to read any more of your books. I respect your feelings, but I don’t think you should preach to women, making them feel horrible. I’m also afraid to find out if you support certain political leaders based on your beliefs about abortion.

One of our staff responded:

I’m replying on Randy’s behalf. I appreciate your honesty in what you shared. One of the things that Randy has frequently said over the years is, “The greatest kindness we can offer is the truth.” Your email mentions the humanity of the unborn child, and that is where our focus has to be and why Randy believes truth needs to be shared, in a spirit of grace. Scripture tells us, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31:8).

If a child were not involved, then this really would be a private decision between a woman and God. But because there is a baby involved, the greatest kindness we can offer others is the truth about abortion. Just imagine if we applied a similar line of thought to other injustices: “Child abuse is between a parent and God.” “Rape is a decision between a man and God.” “Slavery was a decision between a slave owner and God.” All of those statements leave out the person who is being abused and victimized by those decisions. Someone could say, “Everyone knows how God feels about child abuse, rape, and slavery.” But knowing what God feels/says about something is exactly why we should speak out against an injustice.

Randy writes, “It seems to me that the only good reason for personally opposing abortion is that it kills an inno­cent child. If it doesn’t, there’s no need to be against it. But if it does, then you should not just refrain from it yourself—you should oppose others doing it also. You should favor laws to restrict it, for exactly the same reason you favor laws to restrict rape, child molestation, and murder.”

The 10-year-old girl being raped and facing a pregnancy is horrific to imagine. As a mom of two daughters, my heart breaks to think of a precious girl going through such a terrible situation. But the truth is that an abortion cannot take away the pain and the trauma of a rape; it will only add to the trauma. Situations like these do not change what’s always true: an unborn child is precious, created in God’s image. Our anger should be focused on the perpetrator, who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and the girl should receive much-needed help, support, and counseling.

Life is a beautiful gift from God, even when we can’t see that beauty at times. There are so many amazing stories of people (like Ryan Bomberger) who found out later that their biological mom was raped and yet their mothers chose life for them. But their beginning does not change their worth. Randy once had a woman come up to him after he spoke on this subject. She wept as she said, “Thank you. I’ve never heard anyone say that a child conceived by rape deserved to live. My mother was raped when she was twelve years old. She gave birth to me and gave me up for adoption to a wonderful family. I’ll probably never meet her, but every day I thank God for her and her parents. If they hadn’t let me live, I wouldn’t be here to have my own husband and children, and my own life. I’m just so thankful to be alive.”

The other aspect to all of this is how abortion harms women mentally, emotionally, and physically, which Randy talks about in Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. He writes, “By talking about abortion—with grace and truth—we will prevent abortions and offer forgiveness and healing to women and men who are suffering in silence.” This isn’t about making women feel horrible; it’s about sharing the truth in love so abortions will be prevented and so that women who have experienced abortion can experience God’s forgiveness. “The truth will set you free” (John 8:32). There can’t be healing without truth shared.

I would like to encourage you to read Pro-Choice and Pro-Life (which you can do online for free). I believe it will help you think through some of your positions related to abortion. Yes, you may find some of your thoughts challenged, but I think knowing something of Randy’s heart on other topics will help you as you read. This isn’t a political book because abortion at its heart is not a political issue; it’s a human rights issue. Would you be willing to ask the Lord to impress upon your heart any areas where it might need changing? We can trust that He is good, and His Holy Spirit will lead and guide us to all truth (John 16:13). No matter what, you’ll only be more informed as the book will help you think through your positions and know the “other side” of the argument. That can help you as you talk about this subject with others.

We wish you all the best. God bless you.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

How Can We Trust God through Trials We Don’t Understand?

“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Faith is like a forward memory, allowing us to believe as if what is promised has already happened. One day we will see how Romans 8:28 was true all along, even in those moments we most doubted it. Joseph, after suffering through years of persecution, enslavement and wrongful incarceration, saw it. In Genesis 50:20, the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament, Joseph said, “You intended it for evil but God intended it for good.” (Notice Joseph didn’t merely say, “God made the best of bad circumstances.”)

In this two-minute video, I share an analogy that can perhaps help us better understand this verse:

Here’s a question: how long will it take living with God on the New Earth before you say, “At last, all that suffering has been worth it”? Five seconds? Five minutes? Five years? Maybe you’re a pessimist and you think, “It would take 500 years before it would be worth it!” Even after 500 years, you’ll have an eternity of unending, God-centered happiness in front of you, paid for by the shed blood of Jesus. Can you anticipate anything better?

Have you ever thought, I would never do to my child what God has done to me! He must not care”? Picture Jesus stretching His nail-scarred hands toward you, and asking, “Do these look like the hands of a God who does not care?” God’s Son, by taking upon Himself our sins, suffered far more than any other person in history.

If God decided all the suffering of history is worth the price paid, who are we to say otherwise? He knows everything and took upon Himself the lion’s share of human suffering. Hasn’t He earned the right to be trusted?

Take some time to list the worst things that have ever happened to you, then list the best things. You’ll be astonished by how many of those best things came out of the worst things. Trust God to do the same with things that don’t yet make sense. In the hands of a God of sovereign grace, our sufferings will give birth to future happiness beyond our wildest dreams. Jesus said our sorrows will turn into joy—not just be followed by joy, but transformed into joy! (John 16:20). For God’s children, our pain will ultimately be transfigured into both glory and joy.

Benjamin B. Warfield, world-renowned theologian, taught at Princeton Seminary for thirty-four years until his death in 1921. Students still read his books today. But most of them don’t know that in 1876, at age twenty-five, he married Annie Kinkead. They traveled to Germany for their honeymoon. In an intense thunderstorm, lightning struck Annie and permanently paralyzed her (some biographers are uncertain of this but believe nonetheless she was traumatized by the storm, with permanent physical results). After Warfield cared for her for thirty-nine years, she died in 1915. Because of her extreme needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all those years of marriage.

Imagine how this event, occurring on your honeymoon, might affect your worldview. So what did this theologian with shattered dreams have to say about Romans 8:28?

The fundamental thought is the universal government of God. All that comes to you is under His controlling hand. The secondary thought is the favour of God to those that love Him. If He governs all, then nothing but good can befall those to whom He would do good.… Though we are too weak to help ourselves and too blind to ask for what we need, and can only groan in unformed longings, He is the author in us of these very longings…and He will so govern all things that we shall reap only good from all that befalls us.

Really, Dr. Warfield? Only good from all that befalls us? Even from a personal tragedy that deeply hurts your beloved wife and dramatically restricts her personal liberties and your daily schedule for the rest of her life and for most of yours? Warfield spoke not from the sidelines but from the playing field of suffering, answering an emphatic “Yes!” to the loving sovereignty of God.

You cannot have a Christian worldview unless you believe that God has a plan, the ability to carry it out, and the loving-kindness to do it not only for His glory but our good.

This means that for God’s child there is no pointless suffering. Of course, much of it may appear pointless, since finite fallen creatures are incapable of understanding the point. But God is all-wise and all-loving and never pointless nor off-point! That’s why Job could cry out in agony, “Though he slay me yet I will trust him.”

There is only one answer bigger than the question of evil and suffering: JESUS. If we, as Dr Warfield did, see God as He really is, as He is revealed in Scripture, we can trust in His loving sovereignty even in life’s greatest hardships.

For more related to the subject of suffering, see Randy’s book  If God Is Good , as well as the devotional  90 Days of God’s Goodness  and book  The Goodness of God . Also, the booklet If God Is Good, Why Do We Hurt? deals with the question and shares the gospel so that both unbelievers and believers can benefit.

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash

The Further We Move from God, the Further We Move from Happiness

Aren’t we all weary of the onslaught of politicians, religious leaders, and commercials promising more than they can deliver? We have our expectations raised only to be crushed time and time again. Yet we continue to hope for better things than life’s track record suggests possible.

A. A. Milne (1882–1956), creator of Winnie the Pooh, conveyed the joy of anticipation: “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best—” and then he had to stop and think.

Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.

C. S. Lewis called this anticipation Sehnsucht, a German word for “yearning.” Sehnsucht is used to describe a longing for a far-off country that’s, for now at least, unreachable. Lewis connected the yearning itself and the foretastes of it with the joy that is longed for.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve undoubtedly anticipated good food, but instead of falling short of expectations, the food in Eden likely tasted better than imagined. After the Fall, however, the opposite is true. We expect something more of food, entertainment, and relationships, and we are inevitably disappointed. Though we live in a fallen world, we still retain the expectations and hopes of a better one.

Without an understanding of the Fall, we can’t appreciate the gospel’s reinstatement of our lost happiness. A.W. Tozer writes, “Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation.”

When I was young, fantasy stories appealed to my desire for something great and wondrous outside my experience. I longed for Eden before I understood there had been an Eden. I ached for God before I believed in God.

I embraced the gospel because it so perfectly corresponded with what I longed for. I’ve studied many worldviews, but none comes close to the biblical worldview in accounting for all the facts of our existence—including our longing for happiness.

Human history is largely the story of our search for happiness. 

Writer Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), after years of seeking happiness, articulated his gloomy assessment of life:

The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence . . . and that morning—bright, shining morning with its promise of new beginnings—will never come upon the earth again as it did once.

From a biblical perspective, the loneliness Wolfe described is the result of being separated from God. His assessment is penetrating, but it fails to acknowledge the open arms of Christ. Like all of us, Wolfe desperately needed Jesus, but coming to Him requires confession and submission. Without the miraculous intervention of God, our default is to choose our imaginary self-sufficiency over dependence on God . . . which requires humility.

Many people from every demographic have quietly given up hope of ever finding joy.

Psychiatrist Paul D. Meier writes,

I have had millionaire businessmen come to my office and tell me they have big houses, yachts, condominiums . . . , nice children, a beautiful mistress, an unsuspecting wife, secure corporate positions—and suicidal tendencies. They have everything this world has to offer except one thing—inner peace and joy. They come to my office as a last resort, begging me to help them conquer the urge to kill themselves.

In the midst of such hopelessness, God offers the good news of His transforming grace, mercy, love, and eternal happiness: “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge” (Revelation 22:17, NET).

There’s no true happiness without God.

Charles Darwin, near the end of his life, spoke in his autobiography of what he called his “loss of happiness”:

Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds . . . gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare. . . . Formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. . . . I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did. . . . My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. . . . The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.

Darwin may not have traced his diminished happiness to his gradual change in worldview, but it’s likely that the naturalistic perspective he embraced gradually undermined his early delight in studying God’s creation, resulting in a joyless, machinelike indifference.

Since God Himself is the happiness that overflows into His creation, every attempt to separate Him from happiness is futile.

In an 1847 letter to his father, Scottish author George Macdonald (1824–1905) wrote of the barriers he faced in turning to Christ:

One of my greatest difficulties in consenting to think of religion was that I thought I should have to give up my beautiful thoughts & my love for the things God has made. But I find that the happiness springing from all things not in themselves sinful is much increased by religion. God is the God of the Beautiful, Religion the Love of the Beautiful, & Heaven the House of the Beautiful— nature is tenfold brighter in the sun of righteousness, and my love of nature is more intense since I became a Christian. . . . God has not given me such thoughts, & forbidden me to enjoy them. Will he not in them enable me to raise the voice of praise?

Loving nature and beauty should indeed be enhanced by loving the God who made them and reveals Himself in them—how could it be otherwise?

Only a God-sized gospel can enable us to find true happiness.

Satan is aware of a truth we often fail to see: sin sabotages happiness. According to Spurgeon, “Man was not originally made to mourn; he was made to rejoice. The Garden of Eden was his place of happy abode, and as long as he continued in obedience to God, nothing grew in that Garden that could cause him sorrow.”

The apostle John, aided by an angel, time-traveled to the New Earth. There he saw “the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life.” He went on to explain what life will be like for those who live in the New Earth: “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face” (Revelation 22:1-4, NIV).

That’s how much God wants us to be happy—He’ll re-create the universe, raise us from the dead, and give back the wonders of Eden multiplied a thousand times over. There we’ll live in joyful, never-ending communion with Him . . . all bought and paid for with His own blood.

Living in Oregon, surrounded by stunning natural beauty and people who love and sometimes worship it, I often ponder the irony that my state and our neighbor, Washington, have among the lowest percentages of Christ-followers anywhere in the United States. For the present, by God’s grace and kindness, people can reject God but still receive the benefits of His common grace, including the enjoyment of loving relationships, natural and artistic beauty, and pleasure. However—and we need to be so warned—we live on borrowed time. This temporary situation will come to an abrupt end (see Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 20:11-15).

After the termination of this life, we can have one of two combinations:

both God and happiness

neither God nor happiness

What we won’t be able to have is God without happiness or happiness without God.

Excerpted from Randy's book Happiness . For more, see Randy's blogs on happiness.

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

The Farther We Move from God, the Farther We Move from Happiness

Aren’t we all weary of the onslaught of politicians, religious leaders, and commercials promising more than they can deliver? We have our expectations raised only to be crushed time and time again. Yet we continue to hope for better things than life’s track record suggests possible.

A. A. Milne (1882–1956), creator of Winnie the Pooh, conveyed the joy of anticipation: “Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best—” and then he had to stop and think.

Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.

C. S. Lewis called this anticipation Sehnsucht, a German word for “yearning.” Sehnsucht is used to describe a longing for a far-off country that’s, for now at least, unreachable. Lewis connected the yearning itself and the foretastes of it with the joy that is longed for.

Before the Fall, Adam and Eve undoubtedly anticipated good food, but instead of falling short of expectations, the food in Eden likely tasted better than imagined. After the Fall, however, the opposite is true. We expect something more of food, entertainment, and relationships, and we are inevitably disappointed. Though we live in a fallen world, we still retain the expectations and hopes of a better one.

Without an understanding of the Fall, we can’t appreciate the gospel’s reinstatement of our lost happiness. A.W. Tozer writes, “Essentially salvation is the restoration of a right relation between man and his Creator, a bringing back to normal of the Creator-creature relation.”

When I was young, fantasy stories appealed to my desire for something great and wondrous outside my experience. I longed for Eden before I understood there had been an Eden. I ached for God before I believed in God.

I embraced the gospel because it so perfectly corresponded with what I longed for. I’ve studied many worldviews, but none comes close to the biblical worldview in accounting for all the facts of our existence—including our longing for happiness.

Human history is largely the story of our search for happiness. 

Writer Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), after years of seeking happiness, articulated his gloomy assessment of life:

The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, peculiar to myself and to a few other solitary men, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence . . . and that morning—bright, shining morning with its promise of new beginnings—will never come upon the earth again as it did once.

From a biblical perspective, the loneliness Wolfe described is the result of being separated from God. His assessment is penetrating, but it fails to acknowledge the open arms of Christ. Like all of us, Wolfe desperately needed Jesus, but coming to Him requires confession and submission. Without the miraculous intervention of God, our default is to choose our imaginary self-sufficiency over dependence on God . . . which requires humility.

Many people from every demographic have quietly given up hope of ever finding joy.

Psychiatrist Paul D. Meier writes,

I have had millionaire businessmen come to my office and tell me they have big houses, yachts, condominiums . . . , nice children, a beautiful mistress, an unsuspecting wife, secure corporate positions—and suicidal tendencies. They have everything this world has to offer except one thing—inner peace and joy. They come to my office as a last resort, begging me to help them conquer the urge to kill themselves.

In the midst of such hopelessness, God offers the good news of His transforming grace, mercy, love, and eternal happiness: “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge” (Revelation 22:17, NET).

There’s no true happiness without God.

Charles Darwin, near the end of his life, spoke in his autobiography of what he called his “loss of happiness”:

Up to the age of thirty, or beyond it, poetry of many kinds . . . gave me great pleasure, and even as a schoolboy I took intense delight in Shakespeare. . . . Formerly pictures gave me considerable, and music very great delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to read a line of poetry: I have tried lately to read Shakespeare, and found it so intolerably dull that it nauseated me. I have also almost lost my taste for pictures or music. . . . I retain some taste for fine scenery, but it does not cause me the exquisite delight which it formerly did. . . . My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts. . . . The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature.

Darwin may not have traced his diminished happiness to his gradual change in worldview, but it’s likely that the naturalistic perspective he embraced gradually undermined his early delight in studying God’s creation, resulting in a joyless, machinelike indifference.

Since God Himself is the happiness that overflows into His creation, every attempt to separate Him from happiness is futile.

In an 1847 letter to his father, Scottish author George Macdonald (1824–1905) wrote of the barriers he faced in turning to Christ:

One of my greatest difficulties in consenting to think of religion was that I thought I should have to give up my beautiful thoughts & my love for the things God has made. But I find that the happiness springing from all things not in themselves sinful is much increased by religion. God is the God of the Beautiful, Religion the Love of the Beautiful, & Heaven the House of the Beautiful— nature is tenfold brighter in the sun of righteousness, and my love of nature is more intense since I became a Christian. . . . God has not given me such thoughts, & forbidden me to enjoy them. Will he not in them enable me to raise the voice of praise?

Loving nature and beauty should indeed be enhanced by loving the God who made them and reveals Himself in them—how could it be otherwise?

Only a God-sized gospel can enable us to find true happiness.

Satan is aware of a truth we often fail to see: sin sabotages happiness. According to Spurgeon, “Man was not originally made to mourn; he was made to rejoice. The Garden of Eden was his place of happy abode, and as long as he continued in obedience to God, nothing grew in that Garden that could cause him sorrow.”

The apostle John, aided by an angel, time-traveled to the New Earth. There he saw “the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life.” He went on to explain what life will be like for those who live in the New Earth: “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face” (Revelation 22:1-4, NIV).

That’s how much God wants us to be happy—He’ll re-create the universe, raise us from the dead, and give back the wonders of Eden multiplied a thousand times over. There we’ll live in joyful, never-ending communion with Him . . . all bought and paid for with His own blood.

Living in Oregon, surrounded by stunning natural beauty and people who love and sometimes worship it, I often ponder the irony that my state and our neighbor, Washington, have among the lowest percentages of Christ-followers anywhere in the United States. For the present, by God’s grace and kindness, people can reject God but still receive the benefits of His common grace, including the enjoyment of loving relationships, natural and artistic beauty, and pleasure. However—and we need to be so warned—we live on borrowed time. This temporary situation will come to an abrupt end (see Hebrews 9:27-28; Revelation 20:11-15).

After the termination of this life, we can have one of two combinations:

both God and happiness

neither God nor happiness

What we won’t be able to have is God without happiness or happiness without God.

Excerpted from Randy's book Happiness . For more, see Randy's blogs on happiness.

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash