True Happiness
“Jesting, joking and worldly conversation belong to the world. Christians who have the peace of God in their hearts will be cheerful and happy without indulging in lightness or frivolity.” Testimonies for the Church vol. 3 p.p. 241.
God, through Ellen G. White, is very clear in this quote that we should not indulge in certain worldly things. In fact this text not only means we should stay away from jesting, joking and worldly conversation but it means we should have no part of the world. In 1 John 2:15-16 it says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Also in Romans 12:2 it says ” And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. God does not want us to be caught up in worldly things, but to keep our eyes on him.
The main reason why Christ made laws and guidelines for us in the Bible is because He is concerned for our happiness and this will lead us to salvation. This does not mean we have to hide far away from civilization and become extreme. No, if we are true Christians we will attempt to witness to worldly people without becoming worldly ourselves. We will show them the true way to find happiness.
Notice how it says in the quote at the beginning that Christians who have the peace of God in their hearts will be happy without the worldly pleasures. So the only way to be truly happy is to have the peace of God, otherwise you will become like the world, only able to be happy when things are going well.
Some Christians say it is a small thing to joke, jest and talk about typical worldly things like Politics and sports all the time. They are wrong though because when this happens Satan is triumphant because he makes sure they have no time to talk about Spiritual things. Think f it this way, these things might be the difference between being saved or lost. So let us examine ourselves closely today to see if we are really walking with God in truth and holiness.