Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 9

How Can the Happiness of Heaven Touch Our Lives Today?

This life is neither our only opportunity nor our best one for happiness, adventure, and fun.

I’ve read books on happiness stressing that we must be happy right here and now, living in the moment, because this is our one and only chance. How sad!

Thankfully, God says otherwise. His people will have an eternity of present and future happiness. Anticipation of an upcoming vacation or adventure brings us delight even in the midst of busyness and fatigue. On a larger scale, God’s assurance of our never-ending happiness in His presence, on the New Earth, should front-load Heaven’s joy into our lives today.

Ponder this reality until it floods your heart with gladness: Jesus will be the center of everything. Happiness will be the lifeblood of our resurrected lives.

And just when we think, It doesn’t get any better than this, it will!

This video, “The Happiness of Heaven,” is the sixth and final in a series that was filmed to accompany the Happiness Bible Study Book and reflect the content of my Happiness book. (See my previous blogs for the previous videos. All six videos are available on our website as a free resource. I encourage you to consider sharing them with your small group or church!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85QKQPEA3r8?si=VtBpBhDi9sBR1IoT

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

Breathe in the Happiness of Heaven

What Will My Happiness Look Like in Heaven?

The Best Is Still Yet to Be

If a Vacation Is Worth Planning and Anticipating, How Much More Should We Anticipate Life in Heaven?

The Doctrine of the New Earth Is Central to Our Future and Present Happiness

Are Happiness and Holiness Exclusive?

Some Christians see happiness as the virtual opposite of holiness. But Scripture says otherwise.

Greek scholar J. B. Phillips (1906–1982) translated Revelation 20:6 this way: “Happy and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!” Similarly, the most literal English version, Young’s Literal Translation, renders it “Happy and holy [is] he who is having part in the first rising again.”

Most translations of this verse read “blessed and holy,” with the result that modern readers (unaware that in old English blessed meant happy) understand the sentence as containing two adjectives of consecration. But when the Greek is rendered “happy and holy,” readers can realize, Wow, so those who know God are not only holy but also happy? Happiness is what I’ve been searching for! Maybe I should stop dividing my life into “church me,” in which I try to be holy, and “world me,” in which I seek to be happy.

To be holy is to see God as He is and to become like Him, covered in Christ’s righteousness. And since God’s nature is to be happy, the more like Him we become in our sanctification, the happier we will be.

Holiness doesn’t mean abstaining from pleasure; holiness means recognizing Jesus as the source of life’s greatest pleasure.

This video, “Happiness and Holiness,” is the fifth in a series that was filmed to accompany the Happiness Bible Study Book and reflect the content of my Happiness book. (See my previous blogs for the previous videos. All six videos are available on our website as a free resource. I encourage you to consider sharing them with your small group or church!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MDkKlk7crU?si=Q39hnFZsrw-0SGW1

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

Why We Don't Need to Choose Between Happiness and Holiness

What Are Common Objections to the Idea That God Wants Christians to Experience Happiness in Him?

Should God’s People Want to Be Both Holy and Happy?

When “Blessed” Means “Happy”

How Does Idolatry Kill Our Happiness?

In the first two chapters of Genesis, God had no competition for the affection of His creatures. Humanity found its meaning, purpose, and happiness in God. God was God; everything else wasn’t. And the only two humans knew it.

The Fall tragically changed that. Ever since, every member of the human race has been an idolater. What began in Eden won’t end until Jesus returns and all idols crumble under His feet.

Despite the fact that we’re surrounded by shows such as American Idol and the adulation of movie stars, musicians, and professional athletes, most twenty-first-century Americans don’t believe we’re a nation of idol worshipers. The word idol conjures up images of primitive people offering sacrifices to crude carved images. Surely we’re above that.

Or are we?

An idol is anything we praise, celebrate, fixate on, and look to for help that’s not the true God. That covers a lot of ground.

Idolatry isn’t just wrong—it fails miserably in bringing the lasting happiness it promises.

This video, “Happiness and Idolatry,” is the fourth in a series that was filmed to accompany the Happiness Bible Study Book and reflect the content of my Happiness book. (See my previous blogs for the first three videos. All six videos are available on our website as a free resource. I encourage you to consider sharing them with your small group or church!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AXB3yHqOI0?si=9dP7vlBXzUdWAjW_

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

Recognizing and Avoiding the Trap of Idolatry

Who or What Is Our Primary Source of Happiness?

Should Christians Be Spiritual Enough to Not Love God’s Created World?

How to Avoid Making an Idol of Your Marriage and Spouse

Are You Looking for Satisfaction in All the Wrong Places?

Seek the Giver, Not the Gift?

Is God Happy?

To be godly is to resemble God. If God were unhappy, we’d need to pursue unhappiness, which sounds as fun as cultivating an appetite for gravel.

Fortunately, however, God doesn’t condemn or merely tolerate our desire to be happy; He gave us that longing. Through the Cross, He granted us the grounds and capacity to be happy forever. He encourages us here and now to find happiness in the very place it comes from—Him.

In one sense, the idea that happiness began with God isn’t exactly right. Because if happiness is part of who God is, then happiness didn’t “begin” at all—it has always been, since God has always been.

In Isaiah’s prophecy about the coming of Jesus, the Father says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights” (Isaiah 42:1). For the Father to be well pleased and delighted with His Son means He finds great happiness in Him.

Likewise, the Son and the Holy Spirit had every reason for total delight in each other and with the Father from before the dawn of time (see John 17:24 and 1 Peter 1:20).

Steve DeWitt writes, “Before you ever had a happy moment, or your great-grandparents had a happy moment, or Adam and Eve had a happy moment—before the universe was even created—God the Father and God the Son and God the Spirit were enjoying a perfect and robust relational delight in one another.”

This video, “The Happiness of God,” is the third in a series that was filmed to accompany the Happiness Bible Study Book and reflect the content of my Happiness book. (See my previous blogs for the first two videos. All six videos are available on our website as a free resource. You might consider sharing them with your small group or church!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUslKeCYXUU?si=V0kMK36DOdv8GDrL

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

How Does Understanding God’s Happiness Change Lives?

If God Is Happy, Why Does He Seem Bad-Tempered?

The Happiness of God: Part 2 of a 3-Session Conference (video)

Teach Your Children about the Happy God

Exploring the Happiness of Jesus

Doesn’t God Being Happy with Himself, and Seeking His Own Glory, Seem Smug or Self-Centered?

Are We Hardwired for Happiness?

In the twentieth century, many Bible-believing churches moved from Charles Spurgeon’s “You cannot be too happy” to “God doesn’t want you to be happy.”

Some Christian leaders—Oswald Chambers was one among many—saw the word happiness applied to sinful activities (e.g., people abandoning their families to “be happy”), so they started speaking against happiness-seeking.

Their hatred of sin and disdain for pursuing it in the name of happiness was fully justified. But their response should have been, “God is happy and built us to desire happiness. He promises the highest form of happiness in Jesus. But we should seek happiness in Him, never in sin.” Sin, by the way, is never the friend of happiness; it is its ultimate enemy!

It’s not too late to convey this message of Christ-centered happiness to our children and grandchildren and churches. Since they long for happiness, it’s a message they desperately need to hear. Getting this message across requires both our words and our consistent example of living what the Bible calls the “good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7).

This video, “Hardwired for Happiness,” is the second in a series that was filmed to accompany the Happiness Bible Study Book and reflect the content of my Happiness book. (The first video was shared in my last blog. All six videos are available on our website as a free resource. I encourage you to consider sharing them with your small group or church!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMxz5IzwnT8?si=LWQ8qghfAbgWSSkc

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

All Men Seek Happiness

Evolution Can’t Account for Our Inborn Longing for Happiness

Why Do You Want to Be Happy?

Should We Want Our Children to Be Happy?

Is There a Conflict Between Joy and Happiness?

As part of a study related to my Happiness book, I recorded a series of videos, 10 to 20 minutes each, on the subject of happiness in Christ. Though the DVD is no longer sold, our ministry is now able to share all six videos on our website as a free resource. (They correspond with the Happiness Bible Study Book, which is still available from our store.)

The quality of the filming was excellent, so I encourage you to consider sharing them with your small group or church. Whether you use them with the study book or not, I think you’ll benefit from what you learn.

I’ll be sharing all six videos, one at a time over the course of the next few blogs. Here’s the first video in the series, titled, “Happiness vs Joy: The Conflict”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYRrYDEv1l4?si=7PJzQLUChvCJLo_r

In 1629 Edward Leigh (1602–1671) wrote, “The happiness of man consists in the enjoying of God. All other things are no . . . means of happiness or helps to it, then as we see and taste God in them.”

This wise Puritan was saying that the very things God has given us to make us happy succeed in doing so only when we first and foremost find our happiness in God.

Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) said, “God is the author of all true happiness; he is the donor of all true happiness. . . . He that hath him for his God, for his portion, is the only happy man in the world.”

English evangelist John Wesley (1703–1791) said, “When we first know Christ . . . then it is that happiness begins; happiness real, solid, substantial.” Wesley also said, “None but a Christian is happy; none but a real inward Christian.”

While happiness is what we all want and what believers throughout the centuries affirmed is a good desire when it’s sought in Christ, countless modern Christians have been taught various myths about happiness—including the false “happiness vs. joy” dichotomy, which is deeply embedded in American Christianity.

In reality, the Bible is a vast reservoir containing not dozens but hundreds of passages conveying happiness. In fact, I’ve looked at more than 2,700 Scripture passages where words such as joy, happiness, gladness, merriment, pleasure, celebration, cheer, laughter, delight, jubilation, feasting, exultation, and celebration are used. Scripture is clear that seeking happiness—or joy, gladness, delight, or pleasure—through sin is wrong and fruitless. But seeking happiness in Him is good and right and God honoring.

Here are some resources if you’d like to explore more:

Is There a Difference Between Happiness and Joy?

Four Reasons Christians Distinguish Between Happiness and Joy

Is Joy Possible Apart from Feelings of Happiness and Delight?

Is Happiness Different from Joy?

Joy Is Not More Biblical Than Happiness (video)

Reflecting on Three Years Since Nanci Went to Be with Jesus

This Friday, March 28, is the anniversary of Nanci’s homegoing. It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since she went to be with Jesus. I miss her every day, and am so thankful the great reunion awaits.

Nanci was diagnosed with colon cancer in early 2018 and began a journal soon after. Her journals have so much Scripture and so many great quotations (especially from Charles Spurgeon) woven into them, way more than personal details of her battle with cancer. In her own words, and also through the words of others, she expresses the depth of her trust in the love and sovereignty of God. She is a wonderful example of seeking comfort and perspective in God’s solid truth.

Charles Spurgeon wrote in The Treasury of David, his commentary on the Psalms: “It would be better if we read our own diaries more often, especially noting the hand of the Lord in helping us in suffering, want, labour, or dilemma. This is the grand use of memory, to furnish us with proofs of the Lord’s faithfulness, and lead us onward to a growing confidence in Him.”

Just weeks before she died Nanci wrote, “I am once again facing situations which challenge my trust in God’s plan. My trust has not wavered, but quieting my heart in preparation for yet more unforeseen complications and procedures is difficult. So much already on my plate and now more! I really don’t doubt God’s purposes in His plan for me. But I need renewed mercy and endurance. Help always comes when needed… I can trust that the help I need for future situations will arrive right on time. (It certainly did!)”

People ask me if we will publish her journal, and I do hope to eventually use portions from it in some form, combined with my blogs about her last four years, and my own grief journey. For now, I encourage readers to see this index of what I’ve written on loss, grief, eternal hope, and Nanci’s life and homecoming. There are links to several blogs with wonderful insights written by her.

I’ve had many opportunities to share about Nanci, a biblical perspective on grief, and finding solid hope and healing in Jesus. Most recently, I was on my friend Brad Formsma’s podcast The WOW Factor, and we had a great conversation. I said a number of things in this interview that I haven’t said in prior ones, and hopefully this will be of help to many listeners.

Facing Grief with Hope on The WOW Factor

Do consider getting my booklet Grieving with Hope. I have had several people tell me God has used it to minister deeply to them as they deal with loss and grief. Every reader and listener who has experienced the death of their spouse, child, or dearest friend is in my heart and prayers as I write these words.

God’s Plan to Redeem the Earth

The entire physical universe was created for God’s glory. When we rebelled, the universe fell under the weight of our sin. Yet God did not give up on us.

The serpent’s seduction of Adam and Eve did not catch God by surprise. He had in place a plan by which He would redeem mankind—and all creation—from sin, corruption, and death. Just as He promises to make men and women new, He promises to renew the earth itself.

“‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so will your name and descendants endure’” (Isaiah 66:22).

“In keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

“I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Revelation 21:1).

Many other passages allude to the new heavens and New Earth without using those terms. God’s redemptive plan culminates not at the return of Christ, nor in the millennial kingdom, but on the New Earth. Only then will all wrongs be made right. Only then will there be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:1-4).

Consider this: If God’s plan were merely to take mankind to the intermediate Heaven, or to a Heaven that was the dwelling place of spirit beings, there would be no need for new heavens and a New Earth. Why refashion the stars of the heavens and the continents of the earth? God could simply destroy His original creation and put it all behind Him. But He doesn’t do that. Upon creating the heavens and the earth, He called it “very good” (Genesis 1:31). Not once has He renounced His claim on what He made.

God isn’t going to abandon His creation. He’s going to restore it. Earth’s destruction will not be permanent but temporary. Just as our destroyed bodies will be raised as new bodies, the destroyed Earth will be raised as a New Earth. We won’t go to Heaven and leave Earth behind. Rather, God will bring Heaven and Earth together into the same dimension, with no wall of separation, no armed angels to guard Heaven’s perfection from sinful mankind (Genesis 3:24). God’s perfect plan is “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).

God has never given up on His original creation. Yet somehow we’ve managed to overlook an entire biblical vocabulary that makes this point clear.

Reconcile. Redeem. Restore. Recover. Return. Renew. Regenerate. Resurrect. Each of these biblical words begins with the re- prefix, suggesting a return to an original condition that was ruined or lost. For example, redemption means to buy back what was formerly owned. Similarly, reconciliation means the restoration or re-establishment of a prior friendship or unity. Renewal means to make new again, restoring to an original state. Resurrection means becoming physically alive again, after death.

These words emphasize that God always sees us in light of what He intended us to be, and He always seeks to restore us to that design. Likewise, He sees the earth in terms of what He intended it to be, and He seeks to restore it to its original design.

In his excellent book Creation Regained, Albert Wolters writes, “[God] hangs on to his fallen original creation and salvages it. He refuses to abandon the work of his hands—in fact he sacrifices his own Son to save his original project. Humankind, which has botched its original mandate and the whole creation along with it, is given another chance in Christ; we are reinstated as God’s managers on earth. The original good creation is to be restored.”

If God had wanted to consign Adam and Eve to Hell and start over, He could have. But He didn’t. Instead, He chose to redeem what He started with—the heavens, the earth, and mankind—to bring them back to His original purpose. God is the ultimate salvage artist. He loves to restore things—and make them even better.

“Ruined sinners to reclaim.” This phrase from the hymn “Hallelujah, What a Savior!” reflects God’s purpose in our salvation. Reclaim is another re- word. It recognizes that God had a prior claim on humanity that was temporarily lost but is fully restored and taken to a new level in Christ. “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1). God has never surrendered His title deed to the earth. He owns it—and He will not relinquish it to His enemies. In fact, Scripture tells us that “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).

Note that it says Christ came not to destroy the world (which is his world) but to destroy the devil’s works, which are to twist and pervert and ruin the world God made. Redemption will forever destroy the work of the devil by removing his hold on creation and by reversing the consequences. Far from destroying the world, God’s plan is to keep it from being destroyed by Satan. God’s plan is to remove the destruction that has already been inflicted on it. His plan is to redeem the world. God placed mankind on Earth to fill it, rule it, and develop it to God’s glory. But that plan has never been fulfilled. Should we therefore conclude that God’s plan was ill-conceived, thwarted, or abandoned? No. These conclusions do not fit the character of an all-knowing, all-wise, sovereign God. Second Peter 3 does not teach that God will destroy the earth and then be done with it. Rather, it promises that God will renew Heaven and Earth.

God is not some hapless inventor whose creation failed. He has a masterful plan, and He will not surrender us or the earth to the trash heap.

That makes me want to thank Him right now. How about you?

God, expand our view of your greatness so that we may gain an appreciation for the greatness of your redemptive work. Thank you that you did not abandon us to Hell, but that you loved us enough to shed your divine blood to rescue us and our planet. Thank you that we have a future, and that Earth—from which you formed us, and over which you made us to rule—also has a future. Help us to anticipate that future today. And may our anticipation affect the decisions we make. We ask these things in the great name of our Redeemer, Jesus, the Lord of the earth.

Excerpted from 50 Days of Heaven: Reflections That Bring Eternity to Light.

From Eternal Perspective Ministries

Now available as a special edition with a leatherlike cover, Randy's 50 Days of Heaven brings eternity to light in 50 inspiring and thought-provoking meditations to be read one at a time, including questions of self-examination as well as prayer. These snapshots of Heaven will forever change the way you think about the spectacular new universe that awaits us! Many people who have read and appreciated the Heaven book will find this very helpful, not only as review, but as an opportunity to focus on bite-sized chunks.

50 Days of Heaven (special edition) retails for $19.99 and our everyday low price is $13.99. Through May 30, use the coupon code SPRING25 to get an additional 10% off.

This beautiful book makes a wonderful gift!

Knowing Our Ultimate Destination Is the New Earth Changes Everything

Two years ago, I did an interview with Davey Blackburn, who hosts the Nothing Is Wasted Podcast. Both of us have wives who died: Davey’s wife Kristi was murdered, and Nanci had passed away from cancer. (Read more about his story.) We talked about the sovereignty and love of God, as well as the New Earth, and the need to lose our faith if our faith is in the wrong God, a nonexistent God.

I think because the conversation was between two people who have experienced suffering and the death of a spouse, I felt like God's Spirit was present in an unusual way during the interview. I acknowledge that Davey’s circumstances were different than mine, and in ways, surely his suffering was greater; and of course, I am old and Davey is young. Still, we are two brothers seeking to trust Christ with our suffering and “looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).

You can watch the whole interview here.

And here is a 15-minute clip where we discuss what it will be like to live on the New Earth—and how looking forward to resurrected life shapes how we view this present life under the curse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZJPiRhL3WU?si=KudCyYFLbzPNIsl5

What Is the Balance between Financial Responsibility and the Scriptural Imperative to Give Sacrificially?

A reader wrote our ministry, “For several years my husband and I have enjoyed giving most of our discretionary income to our church and various missionaries. But lately we have been counseled that we need to be more ‘responsible’ about preparing for our future, especially since retirement is only a few years away. How do we deal with the guilt we would feel about decreasing our giving, since we still desire to meet the needs we see all around us?”

There are two sides to the issue of savings. Scripture tells us that the wise man anticipates future needs, while the foolish man spends and consumes all his resources with no thought for the future. “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has” (Proverbs 21:20). Even ants store up provisions for the coming winter (Proverbs 6:6-8).

It’s a shortsighted person who fails to store up provisions (money, food, or materials) for upcoming times of predictable need. If you are planning to retire and have no other means of income, then it would be wise to make some plans for how and where you will live after retirement.

On the other hand, Jesus commended the poor widow of Mark 12:41-44 because she did something most of us would consider foolish. She gave her last two pennies to God, having no idea where tomorrow’s provision would come from, except that it would come from her Lord. In 2 Corinthians 8:3-15, the Macedonian Christians gave “beyond their means” to the point of leaving themselves impoverished. Paul commends them for it.

So when it comes to the “retirement dream,” we must ask ourselves, Whose dream is it? Is it God’s dream or the American dream? Consider one man’s plans for retirement: “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry’” (Luke 12:18-19).

We aren’t told that this man was dishonest or irreligious. His plans make sense by our standards. But in the verses that follow God calls this man a fool. He tells him his life is over and asks, “Who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus promises, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:21).

The distinction between financial responsibility and financial foolishness is this: saving becomes hoarding when it is exercising our own sovereignty and financial independence so that God doesn’t have to come through for us.

James condemned the spirit of selfish stockpiling and indifference to a suffering world that had spread into the early church (James 5:1-5). And in Exodus 16 there is a graphic lesson against hoarding. We must beware of any savings or retirement or insurance plan that becomes a God-substitute.

This reader mentioned they have “enjoyed giving” to the Lord. The joy of giving is at the heart of a walk with God, so we shouldn’t stop giving sacrificially. Saving can be wise, but it is never a substitute for giving. If ever we don’t feel we can save and give, by all means we should give. Some people in Scripture are rebuked for saving too much, but no one is ever rebuked for giving too much.

The person who wrote us was also counseled to be more responsible. In the truest sense, generous giving is not just compassionate, it is also responsible. By giving we prepare for our eternal future, because we lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-24). Laying up treasures on earth is ultimately irresponsible. Why? Because it’s investing in something worthless, that will be annihilated in the coming holocaust of things (2 Peter 3:10-11).

Now, if they were counseled to be more thrifty, to reduce their lifestyle expenses in order to provide savings for retirement, this is probably wise. I believe that having less because we give is different than having less because we spend.

I know a missionary family who took their retirement savings and poured everything back into the mission. I suggest that God looks very differently at these people than at the Christian who spends his money on short-term indulgences with no thought of saving for upcoming needs or providing for his family’s future. To those who seek first His kingdom, and to those who sacrificially give of their assets to His kingdom, His promise is one of material provision (Matthew 6:32-33; Philippians 4:19).

I suggest looking for ways to save without reducing your giving. To that end, there are some practical questions to ask ourselves: Can we presently reduce some expenses that would allow us to continue to give generously and save money? Are there other means to supplement our income during retirement? Can we liquidate certain assets? Can we sell our home and buy or rent a smaller one? Or buy a comparable home in another area where it is cheaper to live? Is it necessary for us to maintain our present standard of living, or can we cut costs in our retirement?

The old saying goes, “You can’t take it with you.” But when Jesus spoke of laying up treasures in Heaven, He added a corollary: “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead.”

Instead of spending our lives backing into eternity and clinging to our earthly treasures, we can turn around, walk forward and lay up our treasures in our eternal home. Then, instead of moving away from our treasures, we’ll spend our lives moving toward them.