Skip to main content

Happiness Starts Here


                  In Jesus’ story, “The prodigal son” (Luke 15:11-32), we typically focus on the wastefulness of the younger son and use him as a warning, or we celebrate the waiting and welcoming father. However, there is one more character in this story.

                The older brother hears the celebration taking place and refuses to participate. Even after his father pleads with him to see things differently, he angrily states, “All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” (Verses 29-30).

                The older brother is mad because he thinks that this situation is unfair and unjust. It is wrong that he does what is right and receives nothing, yet his wayward brother stumbles back home dirty and disgraced, and he receives a hero’s welcome. The older brother believes that he is being treated unevenly and I agree with him. However, there are two problems with his thought pattern.

                The first issue is that nothing in life is fair and even. Never! There will always be people who do less and gain more. You can always find someone who had an easier life or more help along the way. It is a fallacy to believe that everything is going to be fair and even.

                The second, and bigger, issue is that the older brother is not happy with his own life and, therefore, he cannot be happy when anyone else succeeds, or is treated mercifully. This is his real problem. His father tried to explain this to him by pointing out, “Everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad” (verses 31-32). Had he been able to see his blessings, then he would have been able to celebrate with his brother too.

                We spend a lot of time thinking that other people have it better than we do. “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” right?

                No!  The grass is green everywhere!

                Happiness begins by being thankful for your side of the fence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Consider This: Who Needs Worship?

  Why does God need our worship? The events of Matthew 14 provide at least one answer.   This chapter starts with the beheading of John the Baptist (verses 1-12). This is the first in a series of events that indicate things are about to become much more difficult for the believers. Next, the scene shifts to a crowd gathered on a hillside in Galilee. After listening to Jesus teach all day, the apostles realized that these people had nothing to eat. They brought the problem to Jesus. He took a child’s lunch and fed the entire group of five thousand men plus women and children. Afterwards, they picked up twelve baskets of leftovers (verses 13-21).   Then Jesus told them to get in a boat and cross the Sea of Galilee. As they went, a storm arose, and the apostles were scared. They struggled along until Jesus came to them walking on the water. Peter tried walking on the water too and sank. After Jesus rescued Peter, they got into the boat, and the storm immediately s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Something to Hold On To

      If you have never stopped to see the Swinging Bridge in Souris, Manitoba, you should add it to your list of things to do. I like it. Others do not. It feels wobbly. It bounces up and down. I have seen people in the middle of the bridge holding on and screaming because it feels too unstable. Of course, there is nothing to fear. The bridge has huge anchors at each end and is secured by steel cables, but sometimes, our feelings make us forget the facts. Peter knows that his readers are about to face some scary situations. He does not want their feelings to obscure everything else, so he outlines three truths they need to remember. First, their hope is greater than their troubles. “For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold… may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7). Not...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Spiritual Makeover (1 Peter 1:13-16)

 Three responses to the new life God has given us.  https://youtu.be/FmqX5-3jOKc  
Post a Comment
Read more