Day 2743 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Ecclesiastes 3:12 NIV

Among all of our struggles and weaknesses and issues, our tendency to overcomplicate basically everything is easily one of the most common practices in all of humanity. It's almost as if we set out to find the hardest, most painful, most insane way of doing whatever it is that we're trying to do. If there's an easy path, we'll pass it by. If there's a simple way, we'll convince ourselves it can't be that easy. If there's a warning sign, we'll ignore it. We just seem to have this idea in our minds that life is complex and therefore simply must be complicated.

And so when it comes to something like happiness which is honestly extremely simple, we find the most arduous path to reach it. That's been the basis of our discussions for several days now. Every single one of us are searching for the same things. We’re all looking for happiness and to live lives that have meaning. And yet, when we look around at the lives people are living, when we look them in the eyes, we tend to see that a vast majority of folks are angry, sad, distraught, confused, frustrated, empty, scared, and just unhappy.

Why is that? Why have we allowed ourselves to reach this point where we've settled for overcomplicating our lives to the point that we simply cannot find joy in life? Why are we willing to concede all these hours and days of this one life we've been given to being angry and upset? Why are we okay with keeping up this charade in which we claim we want to be happy and content and yet do everything in our power to make our lives miserable and dark?

I think one of the biggest issues is that we've taken these ideas of things like perfection, social approval, material success, and worldly accomplishments and rather than seeing them for what they are, we've turned them into these impossible goals that we'll never reach. We've envisioned these perfect lives that always go just how we want them to unfold, and in doing so, we've set ourselves on a course for continuous disappointment. And what's maybe the saddest part of all is that we know we're doing it!

We know that we're letting things into our hearts and minds that only bring us down. We know that we're dabbling with the darkest parts of this world and that doing so keeps the peace found out in the light at a distance. We know that we're simply doing, thinking, trying, and believing things that just make us unhappy. Yet we keep going. Whether it's because we're too lazy to try harder, too afraid to change, or simply adamant that there's something good to be found in doing things our way, the bottom line is that we have overcomplicated our lives to the point that something as simple as joy cannot be found.

I think we need to stop and ask ourselves what it is that we're trying to accomplish. What are we looking for? What are we trying to prove? What is it that we want our lives to be filled with, and if what they're currently filled with isn't doing anything good for us, then why don't we change? What can we do to help make things better for not only ourselves but those that God has placed around us? And why aren’t we doing it?

The truth is that what we allow in is what we have to share with others. And letting in all of these things that invoke greed, selfishness, anger, lust, depravity, and idolatry only leaves us with hearts filled with darkness where uplifting things struggle mightily to take root. And when those things are what encompass our thoughts and feelings and desires, what do we have left that can be considered good, upright, and helpful? Aren't we simply laden down with darkness and sin to the point that we no longer even care if there's a better way? We've simply reached this forlorn place where we're miserable for doing what's wrong, and yet we've done it for so long that we're not willing to try anything else.

Friends, what all of us need to understand and come to terms with is that our lives are a direct result of the choices we make and the things we consume. If we choose to live according to the ways of this world, to consume the garbage that's surrounding us, to idolize all this material stuff, then we'll never find happiness and we'll never have anything of any value to share because we'll simply be no different than the millions around us who are themselves lost within that endless maze of worldliness.

But, it doesn't have to be that way. There is another choice. There is another option on the table. But as we've been discussing, we have to be willing to choose it. And as hard as that may be for us to do because it does require us admitting our ways suck and humbly accepting the do-over we've been offered, making that choice is the only way to find the happiness we crave and the ability to live a life that actually has some sense of meaning.

And isn't that really what all of us want? To be happy. To be at peace. To have hope in the unknowns that lie ahead. To go to sleep at night knowing that we may have made a positive impact in this place. To just know that our lives are more than simply waiting to die. To know that although we're not perfect, we can still accomplish something with some value, some meaning, some purpose that could very well help someone else who is also struggling through this wasteland.

This verse in Ecclesiastes is honestly one of the best ways to summarize all this. There's nothing better for us than to be happy in life and do good while we're here. What else really matters? Is there anything else that anyone has ever come up with or found in this world that adds anything of value or importance to the simplicity of being happy and doing good? Personally, I can't come up with anything else that doesn't already fit within the categories of being happy or doing good. Oddly enough, with as hard as we've tried to make it all this time, could it really be as simple as choosing to be happy and trying to do good for those around us?

Well, let's be honest, that's probably not something that many have actually tried because again, we just like overcomplicating things. So maybe it's a new path to take. Maybe it's a new option to try. Maybe it's the very place that we've been looking to take our lives, and yet it's so simple that we've never noticed it all these years of trying so many other things only to continue to fail to find joy or meaning for ourselves and these lives we're living.

Friends, as we've been discussing for the better part of a week now, choose to be happy. You can! You can look beyond the circumstances in your life that want you to believe you can't choose happiness. You can keep your head above the anger and frustration that we often feel in this place. You can choose to be happy! And once you've learned to make that choice for yourself, turn your focus outside the confines of yourself and find ways to help those around you.

It's in that combination of choosing to be happy ourselves and trying to do good for those around us that we'll finally stumble upon the best life we can live on this earth. So many people talk about living their best life in the scope of having fancy things and fast cars and huge bank accounts and tons of social media followers. Truth is that living our best life is choosing to be happy no matter what we're going through and helping those around us find the joy and peace and freedom and salvation and hope that they too have been offered in Christ.

We've got to stop making all this so much harder than it needs to be. Be happy and do good. Choose joy and help others do the same. Bask in the love of Jesus and help someone else learn what He's done for us. Lean on the hope of the cross and tell somebody else that that gift is for them too. If we could just learn to live our lives focused on praising God for the simple blessings we've been given and helping others find that well of joy themselves, then we just might finally come to understand the meaning of life. If nothing else, it sounds like something that's at least worth a shot!

In truth, God has given us a whole lot to be thankful for and to rejoice over. He gave us these lives. He sent Christ to save us from all of our attempts to ruin them. And He chooses to constantly pour blessings into our lives until were overflowing with a joy that we simply cannot keep to ourselves. That’s the secret to a life that matters. Choosing to happy and grateful and then helping others find that same unending joy in their Savior. After all, what else could we do that could possibly accomplish more than that?

#LeaveNoSoulUntold