Habits of Happiness Part 6

  • 1) Relax in God's plan.
  • 2) Remember what matters most
    • Before I met Jesus, my career was the most important thing to me.
    • "All the things that I once thought were so important to me, I now consider worth nothing, because of Christ."
    • How do you know you've been saved by Jesus? Your values change.
      • Jesus changes your WANTS.
        • I sleep with all the women I want to (one).
        • I party as much as I want to (I don't want to)
        • I drink and do as many drugs as I want to (I don’t want to)
    • The urgent, the relevant, and the important are not necessarily the same thing.
      • Ask yourself, "What is going to matter in 100 years?"
  • 3) Get to know Jesus better.
    • The trap: Busyness.
    • "Be still, and know that I am God."
    • You need to make time for Jesus.
  • 4) Review where I need to grow.
    • Psalm 139:23-24
    • Do a spiritual self-assessment every day.
    • You ALWAYS need to continue working to grow and become more like Jesus.
    • PRIDE will keep you from growing. When you think you have learned it all and know it all, you stop growing. Humility makes you happy because it makes you teachable.
    • Happy people NEVER stop growing and learning.
    • When you start coasting is when you start going downhill.
  • 5) Forget what can't be changed and focus on the future.
    • Happiness requires letting go of the hurt and learning to forget.
    • The Traps:
      • Regret - stuff I wish I'd done differently
        • It keeps you focused on the past.
      • Unforgiveness/Resentment - don't hold onto bitterness
        • You get stuck in the past. It doesn't hurt anyone but YOU.
        • For your OWN sake, you must forgive.
        • You didn't deserve grace, but God gave it to you.
      • Tradition - "We've always done it that way."
        • Everything is always changing, and you cannot stop it.
        • Even with changes I don't know, I can choose to be happy.
        • If you don't like change, you will like irrelevancy even less.
          • If you don't change, you will become irrelevant.
        • Your ability to adjust to change reveals your spiritual maturity.
    • Saddleback is changing all the time too. You need to learn to be flexible.

 

  • Discussion (small group):
    • Spiritual health assessment spreadsheet - Lyle
      • Very easy to get off track if you're no doing the little things.
      • Purposeful habits can easily deteriorate to old habits.
    • Relaxing is very difficult for a lot of us - it's hard to learn patience and being present
      • Allow God to take control
      • Easier when you focus on what matters most - eternal rewards rather than what is "urgent" from society's standards
      • AG Rule - Appreciate, don't take things for Granted
    • Change is happening all the time - Morel
      • We have to be ready to adapt - this is a measure of our spiritual maturity
      • Be purposeful about growth every single day. Don't become complacent.
      • TRADITION is a trap.
    • You are writing your life in pen. - Songmei
      • No amount of crying, whining, etc you can do will change it whether it was done 5 seconds or 5 minutes ago.
      • Trust that God knows every decision you will ever make before you've even made it.
        • Use that to relax.
    • Try to keep life as simple as possible.
      • i.e. enjoying a bird feeder, spending time with kids playing board games, walking dog
      • Tune out the drama.
    • Legalism - Jana
      • Drove her to judge other people for what they should be doing.

 

 

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