why are Christians unhappy?

Why are Christians Unhappy?

It is the nature of man to revel in sin and its pleasures. Paul tells us of the warfare that begins with the receiving of the divine nature in the new birth.

Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
Rom 7:16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

This sounds like a classical example of schizophrenia, doesn’t it? How could one possibly be happy with such an inner conflict raging in his bosom? Yet, Jesus promised in
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Paul expressed the sentiment that Godliness with contentment is great gain. (I Tim 6:6 ) Jesus stated that He had come that we might have life and we might have it more abundantly. (John 10:10) It was the idea of peaceful contentment that the Psalmist had in mind as he penned the words, "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. (Psalm 23)

The proclamation of the angelic host at the birth of Jesus was, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Lu 2:14) In all this, we are presented with a paradox; How can Christians recognize the dual nature of a child of God and still experience the "peace that passeth all understanding" ( Philippians 4:7 )

The victorious cry of Paul in (Romans 7:25) is the answer: "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord"

This brings us back to the question posed in the title of this message; Why are Christians unhappy? Perhaps we should ask the logical, companion question; What have we to be happy about? And then list some of the answers.

1. We no longer need fear eternity for we have eternal life by faith in Christ Jesus.

2. In the confusion of a changing world and a fluid society with ideas briefly held and soon discarded, we have the unchanging Word of God as our Chart and the unswerving Holy Spirit as our guide.

3. In a temporary, temporal world where houses don’t last as long as the mortgages that purchase them, we are promised an eternal mansion, completely built and paid for by our Saviour!

4. While inflation robs men of their earthly possessions, calls to the Heavenly Father don’t increase in price, and there is no price increase on the food for the soul.

5. While the world worries about the energy crisis, the exceeding greatness of His power to ‘usward who believe,’ has hardly been tested!

6. While the world seeks frantically for a way out of the dilemma of wanting peace while preparing for war, we look for the coming of the Prince of Peace.

And yet so many of God’s people are unhappy!
WHY? WHY? WHY?
It is not the dual nature of the saved and the resulting warfare, per se, that causes the inner conflict and brings sleepless nights, agonizing days, unfulfilled desires and doctor’s bills that take of the tithes and offerings that ought to go to the cause of Christ, but instead go to the purchase of fine cars and homes for medical practitioners.

NO, IT IS NOT THE DUAL NATURE, PER SE, for those who are the happiest and most contented in the service of Christ, are perhaps more painfully aware of the problem (as was Paul) than those who blunder along in constant agony of spirit without ever knowing what the trouble really is. The cause is simple: those who are unhappy Christians are those who place their priorities on the wrong part of this dual nature.

A biblical example might be in order at this time. Lot was an Old Testament example referred to in the New Testament of the very thing we have been discussing.
Let us read Peter’s statement concerning this unhappy man of God; 2 Pet 2:6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
2 Pet 2:7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
2 Pet 2:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)

Consider the words translated ‘VEXED’ in these verses. They illustrate the dual nature of Lot and the unhappiness that resulted when he favored the flesh to the detriment of the Spirit.

The first usage, in verse 7, has the meaning of becoming tired, worn out, physically exhausted. Lot had, no doubt, entered Sodom with the idea that his life would be a shining light for God in the midst of all their evil (or at least that He would not be affected by it) but as everyone knows, who has experienced it, to be in constant surroundings of sin, cursing, reveling, dishonesty, and dissipation, soon wears down the will and even those things we abhorred become commonplace and accepted, if not practiced.

We have seen it happen in the lives of dedicated church members who miss services, then deliberately avoid services, adopt the speech of the world, and eventually join in the activities that had once shocked them.

We have seen consecrated young people with a burning desire to fit themselves for a life of service to God, go into secular Universities, where they were surrounded with anti-God thoughts, heard constant ridicule of the Gospel, saw life styles they once thought abominable and slowly, they began to question their faith. With no source to strengthen it, their faith begins to waver and finally, it is worn down and ineffective and they, who were once happy in the Lord, are miserable (vexed in spirit) and don’t know why!

The second use of the word ‘VEXED’ tells us why! He vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds! This word means to torture or torment, and is most often used in the Bible to refer to the experiences of those who shall have to endure the tribulation period and the fires of hell. It is well used here though, to describe the unhappiness of a disobedient child of God and the source of that unhappiness.

When his mind and body was worn down with the constant assault of evil, the Spirit of God within him would not capitulate! Forcing the Spirit that had been born of God
(John 3:6) to abide in a body dominated by a mind that had been worn down by the constant barrage of evil, brought anguish to Lot, even as he sought those things he had thought would bring him happiness and contentment.

He had originally pitched his tent toward Sodom, not in a mission effort to bring the knowledge of God to that wicked city, but because of the riches of the plains and the comforts and opportunities it offered. Even after being captured with its citizens and suffering the temporary loss of his possessions and his freedom, he turned back again after Uncle Abraham freed him. In his final deliverance, as the city was forever destroyed, he was able to bring out not one gold coin, not one crippled lamb, nor a draft on any of Sodom's banks against the wealth he might have deposited there.

If he had effectively witnessed to even one soul, the scripture doesn’t record it. His own Sons-in-law laughed at him when he finally tried to get them to leave. He came out with a wife who was so attached to the place, the she finally looked back and shared its fate; and two daughters who hadn’t even learned the basic rules of human decency. And this, after years of anguish and inner turmoil and not knowing why!

With Lot as the background, let us turn to the New Testament and our own needs, as we examine the question, "Why are Christians Unhappy? And then answer the question "What can we do about it?"

The world has caught up the phrase ‘born again Christians’. In grammar this would be known as a tautology; a needless repetition, a redundancy of words or phrases, for when it comes to being a Christian, there is no other kind, but those who have been born again. This means that one who was dead in trespasses and in sins, has been made alive to God through trusting Christ.

It is at this point that Peter states that we have become partakers of the divine nature. The implications of this are more far-reaching than the common idea that man reforms himself when he becomes a Christian. If mere reformation were all there were to it, then one could slip back and forth between the godly life and the life of sin and find equal contentment in either role. But since the body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit when one is born again, such a dual role and contentment are not compatible.

Hear Paul in
1 Cor 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1 Cor 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

After reforming himself, man can return to his old life and feel right at home -
2 Pet 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

When one has been truly born again and has become a temple of the Holy Spirit, he can no longer sin with impunity.
In Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Paul admonishes that we ‘grieve not the Holy Spirit’, that is; don’t cause him to be afflicted with sorrow. We all know that if one member of a household is grieved or upset in any way, it is impossible for the rest of the household to know any measure of happiness. How much more, can we expect misery, affliction of mind and even anguish of body, when the Holy Spirit who CANNOT SIN or even desire sin, is made to dwell as companion with a mind that dwells on sinful thoughts in a body that desires and does sinful acts? He will NOT let one rest in this condition for HE CANNOT REST!

He cannot leave, for this would violate the very first promise of God of ETERNAL life to the believer, and would make salvation depend upon the works of man rather that the grace of God. There is nothing left for Him to do but to try to clean up His dwelling place at ANY cost. When we speak of sin and its consequences in making the Christian unhappy, we do not confine that sin to the BIG, APPARENT sins of a dissipated life.
I can think of no better or clearer expression of what I have in mind here, than that of Paul in
Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
Eph 4:19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Eph 4:21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Eph 4:27 Neither give place to the devil.
Eph 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Eph 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Eph 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

Remember that a scriptural definition of sin is,
Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
According to this, which is God’s own definition, one could warble hymns like an angel, (if angels sang), quote scripture like Paul or Peter, live as good a life as any Pharisee, and be unhappy, for the Holy Spirit hates ANY sin, even the sin of pride in what we are so graciously doing for God!

Having considered the full spectrum of why Children of God are often unhappy, let’s take a look at the other question, ‘What can we do about It?"

This is a good time to look back to
Eph 4:20 But ye have not so learned Christ;
Ye have not so LEARNED Christ. Jesus said that those who were weak and heavy laden should take His yoke and, He said, LEARN of me. (Mat 11:29)
David said in Psa 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
There can be no such thing as a happy and contented Christian who is ignorant of God’s Word and desires to stay that way! Jesus said that when He, the Holy Spirit is come, He will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13) for the Child of God to be contented, he must follow willingly and even enthusiastically where the Holy Spirit leads. He leads into truth and Jesus said the Word is truth.
(John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.)

Bible knowledge alone, is not enough, true, but can one find peace in blundering along, seeking peace in service according to his own concept of truth, while the Holy Spirit tries to lead him, like a backslidden heifer, to a knowledge of what God wants him to do?
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

Put off or lay aside, as a filthy garment, the old man of the former way of life. Remember that you are a new creation, created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
Learn to look at things with the perspective of Christ.
Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

I have tried to express it in this poem

LET ME

Look my soul, to Calvary;
Look to Him who died;
Hear, my heart, the anguish
In His voice, each time He cried.

Then, let me look through Jesus’ eyes
Down from that cruel cross,
And see, not the hatred in their eyes,
But poor souls that are lost.

And let me hear, as with His ears,
Not cruel, mocking cries,
But souls in screaming terror
As in Hell, they lift their eyes!

With Him, let me be crucified;
Let His desire be mine;
Let His compassion fill my heart;
To Him let me resign!

I ask not to share the pain of flesh,
Coward that I be;
But desire, and heart, and mind of Christ,
Let this be part of me.

And then if pain and suffering
For Christ should be my lot,
Let me with grace and courage,
Accept it all and not

Revile and curse poor sinful souls,
But let me, like Jesus, pray
"Father, please forgive them!"
Let me be like Him, today!

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