Title: Happy Life
Contents
♡♥♡ Happy life / Nehemiah 8:8-12
*** Introduction
The philosopher Nietzsche was an atheist. However, he grew up in a devout Christian background. He criticized, "The reason I don't feel the need to believe in Jesus is because I don't find joy in the Christian life."
Dr. Schweitzer said of modern Christians: “There are many rivers without water in Africa. Looking at the river flowing through the sand dunes, barely maintaining its life, it is so shabby and miserable that it is embarrassing to even call it a river. Even today, Christians see a lot of churches that are forced to flow like a river without water, with a dry spirit, and barely maintaining their formalities and traditions.”
Their words well express the life of modern Christians. As they say, being a Christian is in ‘joy’. Without joy, thanksgiving, hymns, and any religious life cannot originate from the true heart. Nor is it possible to reveal Christ to the world of unbelievers.
There is a parable like this. The clock was hanging on the wall, ticking and ticking, and at some point I had a thought.
“I’m doing ‘tick tock’ every second every day, so I have to tick 120 times in one minute! So, does that mean it has to tick 7,200 times an hour? If I were to tick the day, oops! That's a whopping 172,800 times! One week, what is this? Does that mean you have to tick 129,600 times, or 6,289,200 times a year, and tick the same thing all the time? Oh my God!”
The watch I had been thinking about up to this point was so terrified that I was shocked and collapsed from a nervous breakdown on the spot. The watch was transported to the hospital. The doctor replaced the broken spring and fixed the watch. Then I asked the watch. “Why, how did this happen?” Then the watch answered with tears in her eyes. “Well, listen to me. To go one minute, I have to tick 120 times, to go an hour, I have to tick 7,200 times... ” the doctor asked, interrupting the clock.
“I mean, how many times do you ‘tick tock’ at once?”
“That’s right, I only do ‘knock’ and ‘just’ once.”
“Then, I will tell you a good secret, so just do it. Just buy it with the thought that you will put all your heart into it one at a time, whether it's 'tick' or 'just'. Then you will not get sick and everything will be fine.”
Just like a machine doing the same thing over and over, we feel pressure, boredom and boredom because of the repetition and overlap of daily life. One day, he suddenly feels tired and bored because his life seems to be meaningless. The overcoming of this crisis is not in the world, but in Christ.
1. Let's look at the background of the text first.
Israel, who disobeyed God's will and worshiped idols, was enslaved by God for 70 years as a result of God's discipline. Now, those 70 years are over and the remnant of Israel has returned to their dream homeland. But the homeland was in ruins, and no one welcomed it. A lot of work was piled up in front of them. The people seemed to be collapsing with bitterness and sorrow.
Nehemiah, who became governor of the returned Israel, and Ezra, a scribe and priest, had the distressed people gather to Jerusalem. Then, he read the forgotten book of God's law in front of the people and made them understand the meaning of it. The people realized their mistake and wept and wept. I knew that the ancestors and themselves sinned because they did not know the will of God, and that they were punished for that. They mourned their sins.
At that time, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites comforted the people, saying, “Do not mourn and do not weep, for today is the holy day of the Lord your God.” And he said, 'As you share the food you have prepared, do not be troubled, but rejoice in the Lord.' Because the joy of the Lord is strength.
2. It is the Christian's ability to please God.
People's attitudes toward life take many forms. People who live reluctantly, people who live because they can't die, people who live just like that, people who live happily. There are various forms. So, these days, the most preferred type of CEOs are people who are positive and have fun. This is because those who do their assigned work with a happy heart create high-productivity and high-quality products.
God wants people to live happily and joyfully. In the world God has created, He wants us to rejoice and enjoy the things that God accomplishes. After God created man, he spoke to them. “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Conquer the land. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' I know that my thoughts toward you are not disaster, but peace, to give you hope for your future.”
Therefore, we Christians should believe that God is the one who guides our lives and live joyfully and joyfully. To rejoice in God is to trust and rely on God for the best way for us. It is because even if there is no such joy right now, it leads those who believe and depend on God on that path. So it is our ability to please God.
3. What must we do to please God?
As in today's text, we must strive to live joyfully and joyfully. We must strive to know and obey God's will. To do this, our values and perspectives must be established as spiritual toward God. We must not forget that God is in charge of everything. If you live life with a negative and passive attitude, everything is hard and painful. This kind of life is to deny God who can do things.
Let's look at Isaiah 45:7. “I form light and create darkness; I form peace and create tribulation; I am the LORD. He is the one who does all these things.” And in Jeremiah 33:2, “Thus says the Lord who does the work, the Lord who builds it and fulfills it, he who calls his name the Lord.” He declares that it is God who does and fulfills.
Therefore, in order to please God, we must believe and obey God's control of the position and work given to us now. The people of Israel followed the leader and gathered before God, and they heard, understood, and obeyed the word that was being preached. And we shared the life we have now. They ate and enjoyed the food they gave to them. I didn't force myself to create something that didn't exist, and I didn't get upset by hoping for what wasn't given. Knowing that what we have now is the best life, we shared that life with each other. This is the secret to being happy and having fun. Isn't there a saying in Korean that "Joy is doubled when shared, and sadness is halved when shared"?
The coming of our Lord is also to restore people's lost joy and joy. I pray that we will be able to share and enjoy the life we have today while trusting, relying on, and obeying God who leads our lives to the best way.