Sunday Leftovers (1/28/07)

The cartoon character Broom Hilda once lamented,

"I've searched all my life for the key to happiness.
"I found the key to happiness once..."
"The next day someone changed the locks."

Even believers are not immune to such thinking. We believe that we have found the key to happiness, and then realize that what we thought would provide happiness, does not.

Yet the promise of God that He will give us eternal life is a directive to us that what we should pursue as an object of happiness is life in Christ (Col. 3:4) and eternal life (Jn. 6:54).

And just what kind of new life does Christ offer? James Boice tells of at least 10 things that become new in Christ because of His resurrection and the promise of our resurrection:

• Christ is known in a new way (Jn. 20:17)
• Believers are given a new title (Jn. 20:17)
• Believers are told a a new position (Jn. 20:17)
• Believers occupy a new place (Jn. 20:19)
• Believers are assured of a new blessing (Jn. 20:19, 21)
• Believers are given a new privilege (Jn. 20:19)
• Believers have a new joy (Jn. 20:20)
• Believers receive a new commission (Jn. 20:21)
• Believers are a new creation (Jn. 20:22)
• Believers have a new Indweller (Jn. 20:22)
  

These truths are the promise of God and are to be pursued and enjoyed as the overflow of our satisfaction in Christ. He is our satisfaction.