Now we know how to be happy, just make sure all the variables in the equations are filled in properly! In a new study scientists (so it must be right) worked out this relationship. Maybe it's all overstating things, but in essence it seems that the short term state of mind depends on whether experience matches expectations. Personally, I think the word "happiness" is the wrong word here; the equation is really about contentment; when experience matches expectation then you're not disappointed. This contentment equation raised two new thoughts for me; one about the the poor, and one about the apathetic pew sitter -- one is poor in possessions, the other is poor in spirit. 1. It's one of those dinner table conversations when someone remarks how poor people often seem happy; "how admirable it is that they have found the real secret that all us materialists struggle with". It's said almost as a proud confession to make us seem wise now that we have recognized we're trapped in our materialistic world. After dinner we drive home contentedly in our fancy car to our warm home in a pretty little suburb. Lets stop the stupid of thinking that I don't have to be personally convicted about my wealth if someone can be happy and poor. Someone who is poor has an experience of being trapped in a cycle of poverty. Their expectations are low, the reality of each day matches their expectation, and so for sanity's sake they find a way to be content with their lot - but that's not Joy! Yet if someone holds expectations that are constantly higher than experience, then discontent grows - one becomes driven and slavery, apartheid, and many other ills of society can be overcome. But if we do not live with high expectations then we become apathetic and live with our lot in life - "happy". 2. Which brings us to the apathetic pew sitter. Why does 70% of the church limit their Christian experience to a weekly attendance (optimistically speaking) at a somewhat dull and pedantic gathering of disparate people in an old cold building. The pew-sitter has low expectations of God, and so when their experience matches this expectation they become content with the status-quo and live ever-seeking and never-finding true joy elsewhere. But imagine if the pew sitter truly learned the expectation of God's promise. What if we allowed that scary tug of the Spirit to actually lead us out of our comfort zone, what if we really responded to the urge God puts in us ... what might then happen? Christian hedonism is what happens - we become pursuers of God for the expectation of the joy. As Paul said, "I press on to make it my own", and as Jesus' story tells "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field." There's an expectation of something way beyond their current situation, so they invest in pursuit. When the pew-sitter raises expectations to match God's words, then church leaders can no longer ride on the security of institutional tenure; there is a cry for pursuit, and true community rises up to overthrow the passivity, indifference, and listlessness that grips so many Christians. We would seek God's heart, we would worship, and as Tozer so nicely put it, "No one can worship God in Spirit & Truth for long before the obligation to holy service becomes too strong to resist". The world would change - if only we would let raised expectations nurture a Godly discontent with apathy. It's rooted in this nasty equation that we let determine our state of mind, so nothing happens. Let's nurture a Godly discontent
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Why?
Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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