“Am I Happy?”

rlew — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 03:40:53 +0000

For this past weekend’s Easter service, I was thrilled that Acts of Worship put together a drama. For those not present, it was an encounter between “Justin” and “Michelle”—two contrasting characters bearing a slight resemblance to the sisters Martha and Mary (38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

', 0, 0, 'tippy_tip1328524255_1484', event);" onmouseout="Tippy.fadeTippyOut();">Lk 10:38–41) except with a few twists to increase both the ambiguity and challenge.

Both are believers, though Justin only nominally so (or at worst, a hedonist). Michelle is a faithful believer, committed to serving (slaving?) at church. By the end of the encounter, Justin declares that he is happy while Michelle is left wondering, “Am I happy?”

While it’s easy to say Justin is misguided—we’ve heard plenty of sermons about that—I’m just as passionate in saying Michelle is misguided as well. (

11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

', 0, 0, 'tippy_tip1328524255_6227', event);" onmouseout="Tippy.fadeTippyOut();">Isa 1:11 echoes here.) Justin seeking pleasure in the world misses his true and lasting joy. Michelle serving the church and yet wondering about happiness also misses her true and lasting joy.

The trick to the drama is the person we don’t see. The missing character in the drama is actually ever-present. Because he is not depicted does not mean he is not there. And because we don’t see him, we open the door to wonder about happiness and joy.

I’m speaking of God, of course. God is the “all-satisfying Object“[1] who, if we lose sight of then questions about happiness or “Is it worth it?” creep in. Losing sight of God or thinking he isn’t in the story drains our joy and hollows out our service. In Martha and Mary’s story, Jesus stands right there and it is plain as day who is in the right place. His presence is all-satisfying and awe-inspiring. We are to bask in him, soak in him and then serve to make him known to anyone with the ears to hear.

This, then, is what this website is all about: To seek a God-entranced Vision of All Things. To lift my dull eyes to see God at the beginning, middle and end of all things. Anything less is just not worth the time.

______
[1] John Piper quoting C.S. Lewis in Desiring God.

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“Am I Happy?”