Happiness Vs Joy

My personal definition for "happiness" and "joy" are very different. In a nutshell, I define "happiness" as a a emotion feeling of well-being and contentment, which is affected by external circumstances. Mostly from shallowly things such as enjoying good food, or for me, being able to eat without interruption from my children.

I think most people would define "joy" as something like "really happy by something more meaningful" such as having a good relationship with our families, or being able to help someone in need. But for me I believe true and lasting joy can only comes from God. And it would not waver due to any change of circumstances, because God is the only one sure thing that never change.

Our delight in God, His attributes and His promises are what gives us everlasting joy. When Paul was in prison, I'd bet he's not happy about it. Yet his letter to the Philippians, written in prison, is full of joy. The words "joy" or "rejoice" are used fourteen times!

John Piper, an gifted preacher and writer, wrote "...only God can create joy in God. This is why the old saints not only pursued joy but prayed for it..." How true! My prayer, to quote Mr. Piper's book When I Don't Desire God, is this:

"And thus give them more joy than all the gladness that the world can give. And by this joy in Jesus Christ, fit them to love and serve and sacrifice. And by this joy, with which they bear their cross, Lord, cause the earth to know what you are truly worth."

It's Been a While...

...but here's a few things from chapter 3 of The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul, plus research I've done to confirm the information.

• The word "holy" in Hebrew is kadosh. Its primary meaning is "to set apart."
• God is absolutely above and beyond us.
• Holy is not just one of God's attribute. Holy is God. Everything God has and do is holy. On the same thought, NOTHING is holy without God's consecrating. To call anything else holy is idolatry, since it'd give common things the awe, respect, worship and adoration that only God rightly deserves.

An interesting information I found, is that orthodox Jews are taught to revere God so much that they avoid writing the full name of God because of the risk that it might later be accidentally defaced. What a big contrast to the present day, when people freely use God's names in vain.

AUGHHHH! Can't Look!

Continuing on the book The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. By the way, he just given a message in a conference for pastors that is straight out from this chapter. You can read, listen and even watch it here.

My thoughts on chapter 2:

The Bible has many places gives us glimpses of just how holy God is. Throughout his life, Moses has numerous encounters with God. In Exodus 33:18, he asked to see the glory of God, and God replied "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live." (Exodus 33:20) But God did let Moses see His back. And just from that Moses' face became so radiant from reflecting the glory of God that he had to put a veil on his face, so not to terrify everyone else. (Exodus 34: 29)

God is SO SO MUCH holier than humans that we can't even handle looking at a face that has just looked at God's back. So how are we to face Him with our spotty records of our lives? How can we expect to spend eternally with Him in heaven?

"we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Hebrews 10:10

"... we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus," Hebrews 10:19

The Holiness of God

I believe that knowing the extensiveness of God's holiness is crucial to christian living. Otherwise, we wouldn't understand how necessary Christ's work on the cross is in order for us to gain access to heaven. After all, why should we deserve hell since most of us have never kill nor sell drugs. So we have lied a little, harbored bitterness a few times and being prideful once in a while, that shouldn't be enough to go to hell, right? Well, if we consider that our God is perfectly holy, then it would make sense that even a tiny speck of sin against Him would send us hell bound.

I want to have a better understanding on the holiness of God. And then my husband got this book from the library called, incidentally, The Holiness of God! The author us R.C. Sproul and I'm going to write what I learn from it as I read it since I tend to forget.

So far what I've learnt:
Chapter 1:
• God is so holy that "Holy is His name" Luke 1:49.
• How we understand the person and character of God affects every aspect of our lives. If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the WHOLE universe. No compartmentalizing would make sense, including science, economics, and yikes, politics.