How to Live a Happy Life

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

How should I live my life? Why am I not happy where I am? These two questions plaugue the hearts and minds of believers every single day. We struggle to see the purpose that God has for our lives, and in turn we do our own thing, or even sometimes we do what makes us “happy.” 1 Thessalonians talks of the early christian church in thesolanica, and Paul specifically is writting about how he was encouraged by them after only being with them for a small amount of time. Throughout the letter the reader can see three themes pretty quickly: endurance in persecution, teaching about the end times, and growing to be more Christ like through sanctification. We see two of these themes present in Chapter 5 verses 16 through 18)

“16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

Verse 16 through 18 tells us how we are meant to carry ourselves, and how we are supposed to handle the evil of the world. Verse 16 instructs us that we are to “Rejoice Always.” Through the good, and through the bad we are to give glory to God, and rejoice in every opportunity that we are given. When we find joy in what Christ has done for us, and when we allow ourselves to reflect on what we have been given, we are a whole lot more likely to be happy with it. Our lack of joy often comes from a heart that doesn’t celebratre the small things in life, or that doesn’t find joy in what Christ is doing. Every step closer to Jesus, and every thing that he does in our lives, should cause joy!

Verse 17 calls us to “Pray continually.” Our lives should be enveloped in prayer; our constant desire should be to be in conversation with God. We should be in talks with God about the good bad and ugly while it happens. The way that we learn about God’s plan for our lives is being in fellowship with him. The common answer gven to me when asking questions on Wednesday nights for our students is to have a closer walk with Jesus we must do two things: pray, and read our Bibles. If you show me a Christian that is struggling to be happy or content, I will show you a christian who problably struggles to get in the Word, and who struggles to pray.

Verse 18 tells us to: “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” We are blessed, as Christians, and we have been given a gift so great that we shouldn’t allow anything to shadow the joy we have in it. A gift so great that our hearts should be joyful and thankful always. The fact that a loving father would give his one and only son as a sacrifice for our wrong doings and sin is something that many in our world struggle with including many christians. We should be thankful for the life we have been given, the loving family around us, the roof over our heads, the food on the table, and so much more, but so often we allow the world around us to tell us that we do not have enough. The truth though, is that through Christ we have been given more than we could ever deserve. The second part of verse 18 shows us that our thankfulness, and our reflection on said thankfulness is what God wants for us.

Stop looking for your happiness in wordly prizes or posessions, and find yourself looking to Christ for your happiness, joy, and satisfaction. Find yourself falling in love with Rejoicing, praying, and  thankfulness. These three Christian attributes could single handedly change the way we not only view our world but also ourselves.