Are You Ready to be a Disciple?

In July, I had the opportunity to hear J.P. Moreland speak at the Holy Spirit Conference held at Green Lake Wisconsin. He actually talked on the issue raised in his book, "The Lost Virtue of Happiness. He states, "We Americans are obsessed with being happy. But we are also terribly confused about what happiness is. As a result we seldom find a happiness that lasts. But because the pursuit of happiness' is promised to us as a right in the founding documents of our nation, the Declaration of Independence, we carry a sense of entitlement. We think we deserve happiness." Of course, he goes on to say that even though we pursue happiness, we rarely really find it. Have you ever noticed the tired, haggard faces of people dragging through Disneyland (the Happiest Place of Earth) trying to be happy. It makes me tired just to think of it.

Moreland says that the problem is the definition of happiness. The current definition which is related to feelings was not the definition understood by the Founding Fathers who signed the Declaration of Independence. On page 16, Moreland writes this:

A recent dictionary definition of happiness is "a sense of pleasurable satisfaction." Notice that happiness is identified with a feeling and, more specifically, a feeling very close to pleasure. Today the good life is a life of good feeling, and that is the goal of most people for themselves and their children. A major talk-radio host has interviewed hundreds of people over the past few years by asking the question "What did your parents want most for you -- success, wealth, to be a good person, or happiness?" Eighty-five percent said happiness.

On page 25 he goes on by writing:

Here we must examine the classical understanding of happiness proclaimed by Moses, Solomon, Jesus, Aristotle, Plato, the church fathers and medieval theologians, and many more -- the understand that has recently be replaced by "pleasurable satisfaction." According to the ancients, happiness is a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness. For them, the life of happiness -- the life to dream and fantasize about, to hunger and seek after, to imitate and practice -- is a life of virtue and character. At its core, such a life includes a very deep sense of well-being. But this sense should not be confused with pleasurable satisfaction.

Jesus said this in Mark 8:33-38:

But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Moreland writes that the only way to be truly happy is to live for something more important than one's self. Moreland points to the passage above as how Jesus tells us to live. To be a disciple is to learn to follow the master. Jesus exemplified this passage and he tells us that to be a disciple, these are principles that we should follow.

What are the things that he tells us?

• Think like God -- See things from his perspective. We must learn his word (the Bible) and believe it. We should enter into relationship with Him. We must allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds.
• Deny yourself -- No, we are not door mats, but rather than insisting just on our own rights, we seek to protect the rights of others. We work for the success of others, not only for our own success.
• Lose yourself -- We lose ourselves by immersing ourselves into something bigger than us; we live for Christ and the fulfillment of his purposes. Our ambitions should coincide with God's ambition for us.
• Don't lose your soul -- Don't just live for self. Don't compromise your values in order to get ahead. In fact, make character development more important than getting ahead.
• Don't be ashamed of Jesus -- Don't hide your Christianity. Avoid having a "secret life." Live life openly. (I am not saying we don't have private lives -- I am just saying that our private life and our public life are congruent.)

Do you want to be happy? Live for Jesus. Make his purpose your purpose. Become a disciple of Jesus.