Happiness vs eternal life

God has a hard teaching.  He probably has more than one hard teaching, but I find this one especially difficult.  He speaks in His Word about hating and loving this life.  He says, if you love your life on earth, you will die, but if you hate your life on earth, you will live eternally in heaven.  

I believe that God is good in every fiber of His holy being, and He says that He wants to bless us, make us prosper and sets us free, and what God says, He means.  So in light of these promises, the truth of bearing His cross and following Him is truly daunting at times. 

When a seed falls to the ground and dies, it bears fruit.  If it does not die, it cannot bear fruit.  Like Jesus, who died on the cross, and was born again, so are we to die to ourselves and thus be born again.  It sounds so harsh, but it is not at all.  

When I loved my life, without knowing God, I lived for myself.  I wanted boys to like me, and I wanted to be popular, and I wanted to be cool.  (I was in school then) And then I wanted whatever I could have, simply because I had the freedom to have it, and yet I could not love myself more than others.  I tried to, as though that were the goal of life, and as though loving myself more than others meant being fulfilled, but envy and jealousy left me in a state of self-loathing, defeat and anger.  (years after school) It took many years to deal with the pain of disappointment and low self-esteem, which were not unfounded.  I had experienced the sting of betrayal and rejection.  (University years)

So when the offer of starting over was presented to me through Jesus Christ (the beginning of my working career), I understood for the first time the need for such a new beginning.  And dying to self was relatively easy.  Being born again was as yet the best experience of my life, and it is an ongoing journey of amazement.  

Today Oprah Winfrey's show was about the way people in different countries live, and one of the countries she chose to travel to was Denmark.  Denmark has a reputation for having the happiest people in the world.  They showed its remarkable beauty - the buildings, the people, the lifestyle and their homes.  It is a wonderful place!  Then Oprah asked, almost rhetorically, "Denmark is known for its happy people, and isn't it true that you are also one of the least religious countries?"  All except one girl agreed.  This semi-rhetorical question saddened me, as it really set happiness and God apart, almost on opposite sides of the scale.  

And then I remembered what I had read this morning, about the seed that needs to die to bear fruit, and that unless we die to ourselves, we won't receive eternal life.  But also, more importantly, if we love our lives now whilst on earth, we are experiencing the temporary joys that are earthly and of no eternal value.  But if we dare to suffer for Christ in this life, we will live happily ever after.  Amen.