Our message leads to contentment...
“It did for one wild moment cross my mind that, perhaps, those might not be the very best judges of the relation of religion to happiness who, by their own account, had neither one nor the other.” G. K. Chesterton
That quote came to mind as I was listening to someone lambasting the Christian faith. Certainly, there have been abuses perpetrated within the body of Christ and, lamentably, I can expect that there will continue to be such abuses due to the sinfulness of every last one of us.
But I suspect that many of the critics of the followers of Christ Jesus lack a sense of contentment (which I would rather use than the word “happiness” which G. K. C. used, above) either because (1) they have a skewed understanding of Christianity [ all legalism – “do this, don’t do that” – and no grace], or (2) it’s that they are a part of the group which can be described with phrase “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
That difficulty can best be described as dying to one’s self (i.e. leaving behind any notion that we can earn God’s acceptance and appreciation through our own efforts). We don’t want to do that because we quite naturally think of our accomplishments as good things, but which they are not when enacted apart from faith.
Dying to one’s self also includes then relying on the death of Christ Jesus on the cross for God’s acceptance of us. We, again, quite naturally shrink from such a gruesome spectacle and consider it a bad thing. After all, He was completely innocent. Yet, in the economy of God that weekend of death and resurrection ends up being the most Good thing the world has or will ever know! That, while it might not reach the level of happiness, it certainly brings comfort, peace, and contentment (see Heidelberg Disputation, thesis 21).
As St. Paul writes St. Timothy, he helps us to understand where true contentment lies; in knowing God’s love for us in Christ Jesus and the assurance that God knows our needs and will provide. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, and[c] we cannot take anything out of the world.8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 1 Timothy 6:6-8.