God is not working to make me happy but to fulfill His purpose.
Whack! That statement certainly stands alone, doesn’t it? Just say it a few times out loud, you’ll feel the whack too. We people tend to think that God exists for us, that everything He does is for us or about us, don’t we? We may think that God exists to make us happy. Sorry, not so. But, have our actions ever reflected that? Maybe. God exists for His purposes, not ours. Even we as Christians tend to view circumstances in the light of what God will do for us – send funds, send healing, send protection. Here’s a Biblical truth, God exists for His purposes only.
We know that God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose.
Romans 8:28
But wait, doesn’t that verse say for the good of everyone who loves him? Yep, it does. But, look at the last sentence, for his purpose. We like to stop at the first part of the verse. It sounds like cupcakes and unicorns, doesn’t it? God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. Sounds like if we love God and He’s working for our good, it will be a wonderful life, right? Sorry, not so. We can have a wonderful life if we live for God’s purposes. If we stop existing for ourselves and exist for Him. If we stop living for self and start living for Him. In fulfilling His purposes we are then made whole, made complete. Wholeness, completeness, that would be happiness.
Everything that happens in our life has been designed by God to make us more like Christ. Everything. The good things, the bad things. The happy things, the sad things. The trials, the blessings. Everything that happens in our lives is used by God to make us more like Christ. Who wouldn’t want that? To be more like Jesus?
God is not working to make me happy but to fulfill His purpose.
For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.
2 Timothy 1:8-10
Happiness comes from fulfilling God’s purposes in our lives.