HAPPINESS GUARANTEED

Does material wealth, fame, power, or rich fortunes guarantee happiness? How can we find true happiness?

We continue our look at God’s love for us and his plan (his mission) to bridge the gap between us and him. His mission is to bring us back into a loving relationship with him. He wants us to become His disciples and members of his family.

Thus, He calls for us to respond to His love. But our relationship with Him does not end with His call, for a call without action from the one being called has no value. What are we called to do? 

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Sabbath School Daily by Dr. Brenda Ware Davis

Let Us Inviting God’s Presence:

Holy Father, help us find true happiness and peace regardless of our circumstances. Help us learn to be content. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

God’s Mission, My Mission

(Lesson 8)

Mission to the Needy

Part 5

Helping the Hurting

We’ve all had experiences in life that let us know how painful it really can be. It does not matter about our environment. You may be living in an environment of wealth with many material possessions, or maybe you live where most people are very poor and have very little. Regardless of our living conditions, people are suffering and hurting. Regardless of wealth, fame, or fortune, the struggle is real for everyone.

If you read or watch the news, you know wealth is not an antidepressant. As a matter of fact, huge amounts of money are spent on legal and illegal drugs and alcohol to relieve the hurt and pain people feel. What does this say?

Wealth alone does not even come close to guaranteeing happiness or peace. In other words, money does not buy happiness. Nor can it give us peace.

How, then, can we find true happiness and peace? God has built it in us. True happiness and peace are found in helping others regardless of our financial status or living conditions.

Notice what it says in the Book Our High Calling:

The Lord has a great work for us to do, and He invites us to look to Him, to trust in Him, to walk with Him, to talk with Him. He invites us to make an unreserved surrender of all that we have and are to Him so that when He calls upon us to sacrifice for Him, we may be ready and willing to obey. We shall enjoy the fullness of divine grace only as we give all to Christ. We shall know the meaning of true happiness only as we keep the fire burning on the altar of sacrifice. God will bequeath the most in the future to those who have done the most in the present.

Each day, under different circumstances, He tries us; and in each truehearted endeavor, He chooses His workers, not because they are perfect, but because they are willing to work unselfishly for Him.—Our High Calling, p. 191.

It’s in our DNA! God has programmed happiness and peace to come alive when we are helping others.

This is what Jesus meant when he said in Luke 5:18, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18, NKJV).

Jesus came to this earth to show us how to find true happiness and peace in this world and to give us eternal peace and happiness in the world to come.

He did the work we must do for those within our sphere. God wants us to help others with no strings attached. In other words, he wants us to do for others without expecting anything in return.

Even if, in the process, the people you demonstrate love and kindness to do not show appreciation, do not respond the way you expected, or do not accept Jesus, he expects us to do it anyway.

The point is that the most important work we can do is to lead people to Jesus with the hopes of them accepting Jesus as their savior.

But, at the same time, we must help people in need just because they need help. We help them because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord; Thus, helping others becomes a part of our DNA.  Helping others is God’s work; It is what he asks us to do. When we do it, it ignites true happiness and genuine peace within us.

Jesus is our example; knowing this Bible principle is important for our peace and happiness.  Again, we don’t know if everyone we help will accept Jesus. But we should help them anyway.

However, before we can help someone, we must determine what they need. The needs of people are different depending on their life circumstances.

Of course, it’s easy when you have the money to write a check and give an offering to help those in need. But it may be more difficult to comfort a friend who has lost a loved one. But people like this also have needs, just a different type of need. What your friend may need may be more than money or physical things.

The loving support you give to someone in a time of loss is often much more helpful than money or material things.

Here is an important rule to remember: you are Jesus’ helper. Helping others starts first with showing unselfish, unconditional love. But, before we can help them, we must first seek to understand their needs. More importantly, God expects us to help them, even if we know they aren’t ready to follow Jesus. Read

Matthew 25:34–40: what is Jesus saying to you? 

The needs of others are endless; we will face many situations and circumstances in which those in our circle of influence will have needs. Where do we begin, and what should motivate us to be willing to give? For additional help in this matter, view the next segment of this video ——Part 6: Greater Love

God’s Mission, My Mission

(Lesson 8)

Mission to the Needy

Part 6: Greater Love

As we all know, the needs of others seem never to end. Therefore, if you have the heart of helping others, you will have more than enough opportunities to do so. These opportunities may come from a close friend, family member, or even a stranger.

Calls for help come from around the world. Where should we begin?  

Do what you can when you can. Use what God has given you, remembering that help is not always financial or material. Be creative, be innovative, and get out of the box.

Jesus was not wealthy, but throughout His time on this earth, Jesus helped those who could not help themselves. In some cases, He took the initiative and went to those in need; in other cases, as with the men who lowered the paralytic from the roof to bring him to Jesus, people came to Jesus, or friends took the initiative to bring their friends to Jesus.

John 5:13 gives us the most compelling reason to help others. It is found in what Jesus did for us.

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13, NKJV).

Jesus laid down his life for you! He laid down his life for us.

No, he is not necessarily calling us to lay down our lives, but he is calling for us to be sacrificial. He wants us to put aside our selfishness and perform the selfless act of helping others whenever we can and wherever we can, regardless of their race, culture, background, or sexual origin. 

Let’s make the effort to make a new friend this week. First, think about where you live. Do you know of anyone different from you? Perhaps a different race, culture, or belief. Determines how you can help them with no strings attached. Maybe they are lonely and need someone to talk to them.

Of course, making friends with a stranger is not always easy. So, ask God for help. He knows everyone. They belong to him. He knows the stranger that you can become friends with. We ultimately want to lead them to accept Jesus as their friend. He is the one who can really help them. But we also must be willing to honor their choice.

So here is the Challenge for this week.

Challenge #1: Reach out to those different from you. Perhaps they are a foreigner of a different race or culture. Determine ways that you can help them.

For those up to a great challenge

Challenge #2: Identify someone in your circle of influence who is hurting; pray for this person. Ask God to help you lead this person to Jesus for healing.

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Share your results in the comment section below.

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