Crossing the thin line..

The world has so much to give. Friends. Fame. Fortune. Fleasure (para F pud! hahaha). When we have all of these, we experience an emotion usually directly correlated to circumstances that happen at present and is, actually, just temporary—HAPPINESS. And this is the same old reason why people could not easily turn down the world’s offer; the very exact motivation of people enjoying their venture in this world full of lies and deception.

HAPPINESS. It could give us brief periods of emotional high. Whenever we get a pair of new clothes from our parents, we experience this. When we go to a pizza house with our friends, we will eventually be overwhelmed with this. But this is something we could get even in the shortest possible time; something that requires too little effort. Easy.

We used to think that serving God isn’t fun but..boring. We have this common belief— getting connected to Jesus forbids us from enjoying life to its fullest. That getting involved in a Godly ministry gives us so much burden and pressures. We firmly stand on this outlook that we reach the point of missing the chance to feel something that is bigger than us and our circumstances, something that lasts— JOY. And this attitude of the heart can only be fully-experienced when we have JESUS in us. This is something that He deposits in us through the Holy Spirit.

JOY. It sticks with us even in our most miserable times. During our discomforts, we could still have this. We could still wake up with joy in our hearts even after we have lost important people in our lives or we’ve put so much effort unto something yet we have not achieved our original goal, like in discipleship. Many times we have failed yet, we still continue. Despite the distance, we travel because we want to be reloaded or because somebody needs a hand. Amidst the difficulties and challenges we encounter, we could be joyful. But this is something we couldn’t have in an instant; something that requires much effort and..grace. Hard.

Hmmm.. Now, we might still be thinking that joy and happiness are just two interchangeable words in the English dictionary. But no, we’re wrong. If we are joyful, we are happy but when we are happy, that does not always imply we’re joyful. Happiness and joy may have practically the same definition but there’s a thin line separating these two— DOUBT; doubt that we will not be able to feel as much as what we feel right now.

CROSSOVER. The power to cross that thin line lies in us. It’s in our control whether to choose to cross that line and move up to a much higher level or to be contented with that mere feeling we experience instantaneously but temporary. But this does not mean that happiness is bad; actually, it is also a good thing because it can inspire us to set goals and to work on it. It’s just that joy is something that God wants us to have in our short stay on Earth— a gift. With joy, we will always see the beauty of what we are doing in accordance to the commandments of God. And this happens when we decide to receive Jesus Christ in our lives and begin to believe that He has the power to turn our happiness into joy. Then, welcome the Holy Spirit in our midst always.

To finish, we may have struggles now that seemingly give us the thought of going back to our old lives— where we used to be happy. We might even be a little jealous of some people who are still soaked in the wrong practices of the world but are successful in many ways that we tend to allow ourselves to be influenced by them. Hmm. Worry no more! Jesus said in John 16:20 [NIV], “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.” If happiness is just temporary, so will be our sufferings! So together let’s cross that thin line and be joyful! J