Paul's Tips for Happiness

It is absolutely wonderful how easy it is to see principles and helpful scriptures when I am actually looking for answers.  In my reading of 1 Thessalonians yesterday, I found a theme of helpful and comforting reminders.  In this book, Paul is writing to Athens and teaching them.  The things he presents are very good advice.  One that caught my interest is 1 Thes 2:12: “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”  Paul is reminding his audience to be worthy of God’s presence.  When we are doing all we can and should in our lives, His help is more prevalent and recognizable.  This is an excellent concept to me, because it tells me that if I want to seek more of His help and influence than I can currently see – I need to make sure I am doing all I can to live worthily of His presence and influence.

A second little reminder I found is in verse 20 of the same chapter: “For ye are our glory and joy.”  The people Paul teaches are very important to him, and in reading this I thought “Prophets today feel this way about us, as do Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.”  Reading this and having that thought come to me was very comforting.  They care about us, and they will do all they can to look out for us.  All we need to do is seek that help.

The last scripture I want to mention is in 1 Thes 4:16-18: “for the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven… then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together when them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the  Lord… comfort one another with these words.”  This is referring to the second coming, and how those who are worthy will be taken up to be with Christ.  (Fun Fact: We learned in class that this is intriguingly referred to as “The Rapture” – which has the Greek root “rapio” meaning abduction or kidnapping.)  However, we can also think of it in context of our own personal “coming to Christ” – I had a similar thought process when I was reading a scripture block in Acts.  The phrase that came to mind as I read these verses was “Be alive in Christ.”  When we come to Him, He will help us live as He would have us, and WE WILL BE HAPPIER.

I Love the scriptures.  I am amazed that He helps me find meaning in even the verses that are hardest to understand.