What is "good" and what is "bad?" Good and bad are relative terms. What may SEEM bad now may turn out for good. As Scripture says, "God will work all things together for the good of those who love Him." Amen? I once heard an example that our lives are like baking a cake. Each ingredient by itself would not taste good. You would not want to eat the raw egg or the flour by itself. But when EVERYTHING is mixed together it tastes amazing. That is how our lives work. You never know what ingredient to your cake God might be working on right now. You never know when he is going to mix everything together and turn it into a beautiful cake! So do not loose heart. Do not give up. God will bless you and show you why He has done everything that He has in your life. It is only a matter of time. :)
We always think anything that causes us pain is bad. But why do we always think that? What if our perspective changed to see that what made us more holy was what was good and not just what made us more happy? How would that change how we viewed the events of our lives? Happy is a relative term also. What might make one happy would not make another happy. For example, the book the Four Love Languages; some people like receiving presents from those they love. Presents mean almost nothing to me. I prefer "words of affirmation" or hugs. Others like acts of service to be done for them to make them feel love, like doing the dishes. I personally prefer doing the dishes myself. lol So we are all different. We all have different thing that make us "happy," but happiness is fleeting. It lasts for a very short time and then wears off. So many people live their lives striving and straining against the wind trying to find things to make them "happy," but they are never..... actually.....happy. Why is that? Because things in this life are transitory, fickle and do not last. Things in this life are merely a shadow. The real, tangible, substantial good things are loving and knowing God and learning how to really love others. God is what will make us happy but also will give us an undercurrent of joy that never fades no matter how down you feel. When your whole world is falling apart, you will know that God is still there holding you up and that can give you something that anything in this world could not give you. Peace. Joy. Reassurance.
So what if sometimes God allows, causes, things in our life to draw us closer to Him? Because He knows what many of us do not know, that our greatest joy will come when we know Him more and more and love Him with our whole heart, body, soul and mind. What if He has to break us though first to show us this? What if He has to make us unhappy to give us joy? It seems backwards but it is how He works. Why does He do things this way? Because he has to show us that this life is transitory. He makes us unhappy with the things in this life so that we will learn to lean on Him and Him alone. Anything that you strive after in this life will only make you feel more and more empty. It will fail you time and time again. The richest people in the world STILL don't feel like they have enough money. The people married to the most gorgeous people in the world still are not satisfied; look at Brad Pitt leaving Jennifer Aniston. People might turn to food to make them happy but then regret what it does to their bodies. Nothing in this life will satisfy. It is all fleeting, a "chasing after the wind."
What if we stopped trying to "chase the wind?" What if we just sat still and thought about our lives for a minute. Where are we going? Where have we come from? Where do we want to be? Are we really content with out lives and why not?
We are to be content to an extent but we also to be discontent. We are to be discontent with this world and how it operates. We are to recognize that we live in a fallen world. We are to not idolize anything in this world becasue everything here is mortal. It could be gone in a split second. Do not hold too tightly to anything in you life. Do not look to that thing to make you happy, because only God alone can make you happy, or rather give you joy. Do not seek to be "happy." Seek to be GOOD. Seek after whatever will make you more holy, not happy. Happiness comes and goes. But holliness, joy, peace; these last forever in the very core of your being. No one can take those away from you. Develop the fruit of the spirit. Work on yourself before you chase everything in the world, which is futile anyways. If you are not happy, look within. What is going on in you soul? Many do not like to peer inside of themselves. It scares them. So they run from it. They hide in watching TV all the time or shopping or running to and fro from one thing to the next, all in an attempt to keep from knowing themselves. Know thyself. See the truth, and "the truth shall set you free."
We can also look at good and bad in terms of what we choose to eat. We may decided to eat a brownie, as I just did, which tastes incredibly good. But the good in that can actually be bad as it may result in cavities or gaining weight. However what if one decided to eat spinach? I pretty much destest spinach and think of it as "bad" but it is actually probably one of the most "good" things you can eat. Look at what it did for Popei! lol. Everything can be seen in new ways if we would just change our perspective. I think an apple, or fruit in general, may just be the only food that tastes good and actually is good. lol :)
Look at good and bad in terms of dating and finding someone to marry. What may look "good" on the outside may very well be bad. Many people are wolves walking around in sheep skin. They may seem "good" or look "good" but they are in actuality bad. One needs to look at the heart, not the outward appearance, when searching for someone to spend the next 60 years of their life with.
We can also look at good and bad in terms of a job. A job may pay very well, causing you to think it is "good." But what if that job makes you miserable and you hate it. Is it still "good" then? Probably not.
Good and bad need to be looked at more closely in any aspect of life. What if we started seeing things with new eyes and saw that what is bad is good and what is good is bad? Consider it.
May God bless you in all you do this week! Peace be with you! :)
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