MAKING
GOD HAPPY
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
Happy: Having, showing, or causing great pleasure or
joy – Webster’s Dictionary
Today I was
sent a Facebook post that seems to be going viral. I don’t pay much attention
to social media, but this one caused me to look closer in response to a check
in my spirit. It was about an exhortation given in a sermon by Victoria Osteen,
co-pastor at Lakewood Church. It caused quite a stir because she seemed to be
saying that we obey God and do good for our own self; that the key to making
God happy is to first make yourself happy. This was not a direct quote of what
she actually said.
On the
surface this sounds like she is advocating pleasing yourself above pleasing
God. I don’t think that was her intent at all. After listening to the video,
I’m sure of it. Her intent was to simply encourage people to be happy because
it pleases God when His people are happy. If you look at the definition of
happy, you will see that happiness is linked with joy. We know that the joy of
the Lord is our strength and Jesus gives us joy. But, happiness is a choice
that we must make every day. What she was saying is we’re not making a decision
to be happy for God, but for what it does for our own souls. It pleases God
when we make a decision to be happy regardless of our circumstances and live in
the joy of the Lord. Victoria could have said it better, but it wasn’t
rehearsed and sometimes the words don’t exactly express what is in our hearts.
I’m not so
concerned with Victoria as I am with the Body of Christ which is so quick to
judge another in the high court of social media. I wasn’t there. I didn’t hear
the whole sermon. I wasn’t sitting in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I saw
this clip that could have been interpreted as heresy, but instead a voice inside
of me said, “Defend her”. I know that voice well. He gave me no other
instructions, but I knew what I had to defend.
I may not
know what makes God happy, but I do know what grieves the Spirit. We are not to
judge each other. Every follower of Christ has already been judged and found guilty.
It is only through the blood of Jesus that we stand in righteousness. Jesus
gave us another commandment to add to the original ten which would sum them all
up into one commandment. We are to love one another. When we look in the Word
at what love is to God we see that love is patient, kind, doesn’t envy, is not
proud, not self-seeking, not provoked, thinks no evil … Let’s stop there. It thinks no evil. In
other words, we don’t think evil of those we love. We give them the benefit of
a doubt. We do not criticize or slander others, especially in gossip. We
support and defend those who are under attack.
This is a
pastor who has devoted her life to the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ and
shepherding His Church. Can we not protect her from the wolves? The enemy is
always looking to get a mob gathered to attack someone who makes an innocent
mistake. Jesus never said or did anything against the will of the Father, yet
he was falsely accused and murdered because those who claimed to love him
deserted him and some even joined the very mob that crucified him. This
ministry has suffered attacks before and will continue to do so, but not at my
hand. I believe that it makes my Father happy when I walk in love with my
brothers and sisters in Christ. They aren’t perfect. They make mistakes. But if
they need correction, the Father knows how to correct His children and it is
always in love and to bring them to repentance. It is never to tear them down
for the sake of gossip in the social media.
Our leaders
are under severe attack by the enemy of our souls. He is pulling every evil
trick that he can find to bring them down. Love conquered him before and it
will continue to defeat him because it never fails. We can’t keep ripping each
other apart in the social media sites as we hid behind our laptops and smart
phones. I remember Jesus asking for the accusers to step forward when a woman
was being accused of adultery. They all had sin in their hearts and He made
them see that they were no better than this woman. If you are perfect and have
never said anything that others misunderstood your meaning, then perhaps you
can put your self-righteous post on Facebook. If, like me, you remember the
pain of having those in the family of God turn on you, perhaps, you will decide
not to get involved in this feeding frenzy. Instead, lift Victoria up in
prayer. If she has strayed in her thinking, the only true righteous Judge will
correct her. Regardless of whether she was wrong or right, refuse to persecute her.
Part of the
reason that it is so hard to get people to come to church or even consider
Christ is the fact that Christians no longer stand together. They have become
as nit-picky as the ungodly. We have to stand up against sin and beware of
false teachers, but many times it’s not about cleansing the church that sends
us off on witch hunts. We are to protect each other in love because our
adversary the devil is roaming about stirring up trouble hoping that we
will kill one for him to devour.
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