{"id":627,"date":"2014-09-03T21:18:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focuspressblog.com\/?p=627"},"modified":"2014-09-03T21:18:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:18:15","slug":"q-god-wouldnt-want-me-to-be-unhappy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2014\/09\/03\/q-god-wouldnt-want-me-to-be-unhappy\/","title":{"rendered":"?Q: “God Wouldn’t Want Me to Be Unhappy!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is another installment of our Questionable Quotes (?Q)<\/a> series, where we aim to take popular, commonly used quotes about the church, God, and the Bible and put them under the microscope to see if they really hold up to the truth.<\/em><\/p>\n

The church at Laodicea was diagnosed by Christ as lukewarm. Imagine the graphic picture of Jesus spewing them out of His mouth because of this sin. I suspect that if Christ came back today and were to write letters to some of the churches in America He would address the epidemic of narcissism. I can easily see Him writing that this sin would cause Him to want to vomit us out of His mouth. Narcissism reigns in our culture\u2014young and old alike. We have relegated God to the back seat of our lives and have placed our own interests, desires, and egos firmly in the front seat.<\/p>\n

Rather than look to God\u2019s Word for how we are to conduct ourselves in areas such as marriage we simply declare, \u201cGod wouldn\u2019t want me to be unhappy.\u201d And with that self-divine caveat we proceed to do whatever our hearts desire.<\/p>\n

God doesn\u2019t want you to be unhappy?Really? So let me get this straight. God crushed the spotless, sinless lamb of God on the cross for sin that was not His own (Isaiah 53:10). He made Him sin\u2014who knew no sin\u2014to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). But it’s\u00a0you<\/b> He wouldn\u2019t want unhappy?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic to me that literally tens of thousands of Christians have uttered wedding vows that\u00a0say some form of:<\/p>\n

I, (name), take you (name), to be my lawfully wedded (wife\/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.<\/p>\n

Yet, what we really mean is, \u201cI\u2019ll take you as long as you make me happy.\u201d You have forgotten that your spouse is a part of the body of Christ and what you\u2019re really saying is:<\/p>\n

Jesus I can\u2019t love you, not this part of your body, because this part of you makes me unhappy right now. And, since I am the center of my universe, if you want me to love you then make me happy with this part of you. Then I will love you\u2014because Jesus\u2019 blood was not enough.<\/p>\n

If you aren\u2019t happy right now with your spouse you may be in that \u201cworse\u201d category (of \u201cbetter or worse\u201d). And unless your spouse is dead, you made a vow before men and God that you would stay with that person. Never forget you will one day give an account for that vow and your actions.<\/p>\n

When your world revolves around yourself it is easy to lose perspective. If you have a problem in your marriage right now, there is a good chance that it is not what your spouse is or isn\u2019t doing. The problem may very well be that Jesus Christ is not magnificent enough to you. He is not majestic enough to you. And above all, he is not sufficient for your egocentric, narcissistic, humanistic and sinful fleshly desires.<\/p>\n

After Job lost his wealth, flocks, and children did he leave his wife and say \u201cGod wouldn\u2019t want me to be unhappy?\u201d No! He said, \u201cNaked I came from my mother\u2019s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord\u201d (Job 1:21).<\/p>\n

If you have recently uttered the phrase, \u201cGod wouldn\u2019t want me to be unhappy\u201d then allow me to ask you, \u201cWho do you think you are?!\u201d At what point did your happiness become the focal point of the Almighty Creator? Unhappy might be right where God needs you, to bring maximum glory to His name!<\/p>\n

This world is not all about you. It\u2019s all about Him. The sooner we learn that and communicate that to our children the better we will understand what God really wants.<\/p>\n

\n

By Brad Harrub, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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