Are you Pleased to be Alive?

Horace Kallen, on his 73rd birthday, said, “There are persons who shape their lives by the fear of death and persons who shape their lives by the joy and satisfaction of life. The former live dying; the latter die living. Intend to die living.”

Abraham Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Based on this it would appear that a great many people wake up in the morning and say, “I am going to be miserable today.”

Dr. Paul Pearsall says, “The first question I always ask my own patients is, ‘Are you pleased to be alive?”

Certainly the Lord would have us to be happy, for Paul tells us 19 times in his letter to the Philippians to rejoice and to be glad in the Lord. He explains to them that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstances he is in. He had to learn this; it did not come naturally. Have we learned to be happy right here and now? If we wait until everything is perfect to be happy, we never will be.

So you have troubles? Congratulations. The only people who have no troubles at all are dead. We know that “we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” Even Jesus had to learn “obedience by the things that he suffered.” Be thankful that you are alive and realize your troubles are for a purpose. Paul rejoiced in his, for he said: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God wants us to take delight in serving Him. Isaiah tells us, “Honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Depression is a very serious problem today. Why do so many suffer from it? Certainly the scriptures offer us help in overcoming depression. The Psalmist asks, “Why are you cast down O my soul? And why are you disqui­eted within me?” He then gives us the solution by replying: “Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him.” The more we hope in God, the more we praise Him, the happier we will be.

The message that we should be joyful servants of God is repeated often. The Psalmist tells us in three different Psalms: “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! The righ­teous shall be glad in the Lord and trust in him. And all the upright in heart shall glory. May my meditation be sweet to him; I will be glad in the Lord.”

So we need to shape our lives by filling our minds with the joy of the Lord. We can find contentment by accepting things as they are, for as Paul tells us, “godliness with contentment is great gain.” If we learn to be content, if we rejoice in the Lord, then we can say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Then we will stay alive as long as we live and die living, and even our deaths will be swallowed up in victory at the return of our Lord.