Hope and Happiness Bringing Hope and Happiness
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He is Risen!
My blogs are usually on either Hope or Happiness, so I’m very excited for today’s blog to be about both Hope AND Happiness. Everyone may not share my enthusiasm for this blog, and I fully accept that, but I hope those 2 Billion people around the world who do accept that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, that he is the Son of God, that he was Crucified, Dead and Buried, and He Is Risen will be blessed by this blog.
It is easy to replace Hope with Faith and Happiness with Joy. The word faith is used over 150 times in most versions of the Bible. The word joy is also used over 150 times. Only about 8 words are used more often.
Have you ever stopped to think what our lives would be like if Christ had not lived? For starters, we’d not be observing the year 2017, as there would be no A.D. And what about those years B.C.? Even those scientific minds who try to escape the use of B.C. and A.D. by using B.C.E. (before common era) and C.E. (common era) use the same years.
So what hope does being a Christian bring you? I personally cannot comprehend how anyone without faith can make it through tragedies, such as the VA Tech shootings. How can an individual possibly feel they have the ability to cope without the strength of a higher authority? The VA Tech shootings especially hit me hard. Being a Civil Engineering alumnus, most of my classes were in Norris Hall. When they opened the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, I attended the dedication. While there I kept noticing a gentleman my age. I was sure I remembered him from school. I finally found myself standing by him, and asked did he graduate in the 70s. He answered that he did, but not from VA Tech. He hesitated, and then replied, “My daughter was one of the victims that day.” Well, after I was able to sink my heart down from my throat, I told him how sorry I was. I then told him that I hoped the millions of prayers that was lifted up for the victims helped in some small way. He said that the first two days were horrific. But then, all of a sudden, a peace came over him, and his wife. They knew it was from all the prayers being said. That is the only thing that got them through the ordeal.
There’s also the hope that “everything will be better.” I know, and I am glad, that GOD/Christ isn’t a giant puppeteer that will direct our every movement, and thereby control our lives. He’s more like a loving parent. He gives us self-will, but is always there, with his Agape, unconditional love. I’m glad He is.
When the best of the best self-improvement leaders (Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar, Jack Canfield, Earl Nightingale to name a few) tell us that we must be able to first believe in order to later see, they are speaking of faith. Through any faith, we have elevated our potential to do a greater good. If we add Christian faith, we have few limits.
And talk about happiness! The happiness that I am living a life my parents would be proud of. Lord knows, (and I mean that literally) that I’m not perfect, but I am so much better of a person than I would be if I did not strive to be a Christian. Knowing that I have a love for everyone, even those who hate and persecute me. An unconditional love for those I disagree with. That I am willing to clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless. I have no doubt that I would not be doing these things if I was not a Christian.
Being a financial planner who specializes in retirement planning, I thrill at being able to help a client enjoy their golden years. Well those years are but tarnished zinc compared to the Golden Years we will spend in Heaven.
Non-believers, often portray believers as superstitious at the worse, and gullible at the best. What if they were right? That Christ was not the son of God, and that God doesn’t even exist. Then what would be lost? Sure, atrocities are done in the name of Christ, but much more good is done, than bad. But if everyone lived their life as a Christian, if we were all Christ-like, how wonderful the world, and society, would be.
Please reply with other examples of Hope and Happiness that being a Christian brings you.
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