Why Am I Not Happy?

My unhappiness can stem from various causes.  Sometimes, the cause can be found in external events or circumstances.  Sometimes, the cause is just a plain ‘B.A.’ as friends used to say, that is, a bad attitude.  Whatever the cause, unhappiness can be a sign that something has stepped between us and that which we prize more than anything else.  In other words, something is blocking us from our idol and that makes us unhappy.

As cross cultural workers, I think we can be blinded to what are the idols in our lives and ministries.  One that runs particularly deep is a sense of or the idol of entitlement.  We push back when people try to put us up on a spiritual pedestal as if we are some super saint.  “We are just normal Christians like you,” we reply.  Yet, we become unhappy very quickly if there is a problem with our support being deposited or the reimbursement of vouchers we have submitted.  We may not say it out loud, but we certainly are thinking: “I deserve better than this!”

The idol of entitlement can quickly give rise to a critical spirit.  Before we know it, we can be running our agency down as if everything people do is “not up to snuff” and declaring that ‘other agencies’ do a much better job.

Psalm 139:23-24 are verses that talk of the daily ‘pruning’ that God wants to do in removing idols from our lives.  Happiness returns to my heart when the ‘everlasting way’ takes me back to Jesus and I recognize how the idols in my life never meet the deep needs of my heart.  Only Jesus does.

And because Jesus does, I love where He has placed me.  I love World Team because that is the community He has allowed me to serve in and where His work will continue to be done in my life at this part of my journey.