Why is There Unhappiness and Suffering?

We all want happiness, satisfaction, and real joy in life. And God, and you read in the Bible, says that He wishes that we all may prosper and be in good health. So God wants only that for us. He tells us to make the right choices so that it may be well with us. But the question raises is, why is so much unhappiness and sadness and, indeed, suffering in the world? Because God has provided us with a way that our life could be abundant and happy. So what is the reason why there's so much unhappiness and suffering and ultimately death? Well, the reason is basically because God created man incomplete. You and I created physically out of matter, out of physical things. When God made us a physical being, He said, it's very good. Yes, it is physically speaking. It is very good.

But it's not complete because God is Spirit. And God created us in His image to be like Him. But we're incomplete.

You see, we as human beings are not complete until our minds are, in essence, united with God's mind, God's power, which proceeds from the Father.

So what is our mind? Our mind is our brain and the spirit of man in man. That's what our mind is. And so our mind needs to be united with God's Spirit through God's indwelling in us through His Spirit. And that is to make us complete.

You see, so we need God's Holy Spirit in man so that God's mind, God's feelings, God's love, God's divine nature, God's faith, and God's power may be in us.

And that is a gift from God.

But that does not happen instantaneously.

You and I cannot have perfect character instantaneously.

Perfect character requires time, knowledge, between understanding what is right and what is wrong, requires making a decision to do what is right, and requires the ongoing perseverance to do what we know is right. In other words, that ongoing submissiveness to what is right.

And that needs to be with a spirit of cooperation, of self-discipline, of resistance to our own pools, and with our own good will, so that you and I follow the way, indeed, the way that God guides us through His Spirit.

Now, you and I read in Romans 8, verse 7.

Romans 8, verse 7. Romans 8, verse 7.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God.

The carnal mind, the way God created you and I as mortal human beings with human nature, it says, here is enmity against God.

You see, this human nature is like a pool, like an attraction, like gravity that pulls you and I in a way of self.

For me, myself and I, which is against God's way and against God Himself.

And so, what you and I need in first place come to recognize is that we have a natural rebellion against God's correct ways of life.

And we need to recognize, we need to be aware of that. There is a natural tendency or a natural mindedness or a natural inclination towards things of the flesh.

And therefore, we need to, with that understanding, we need to make a commitment and over a period of time experience that genuine repentance.

In other words, we need to put in practice genuine repentance against any hostility that we may have towards God's ways or towards God.

I'm not talking about just repentance of what we've done. It is very important to differentiate that. Obviously, we have to repent of what we've done.

But I'm talking about repentance of what we are. Now, understand I'm talking about repentance, which is a different word than forgiveness.

Of course, we have to repent and ask for forgiveness for what we have done. But of what we are, we haven't done so we don't have to, in a sense, ask for forgiveness.

But we have to ask for repentance, which is different.

You see, God is not going to give eternal life to any person that is not 100% committed to live the way that will lead to a happy, joyous, abundant, productive and efficient life. Once you and I make that commitment, which is the act of baptism, as we read in Acts 2, verse 38, repent from dead works and then be baptized for the remission of sons by Jesus Christ's authority, and then you will receive God's Holy Spirit.

And so, the problem with a lot of people is they've recognized that there are two conditions before baptism.

One is belief and the other one is repentance.

Right. And when you read Acts 2, verses 36 and 37, it says that they then realized, they understood, they believed, they trusted that indeed Christ, Jesus, was the Messiah and that they had killed the Lord and the Messiah.

And so, they believed that Christ was. So, that's the first condition. The second one was, they asked, what shall we do?

Suddenly, it hit their brains like saying, what have we done? We killed the Messiah.

And then Peter, in that sermon on the day of Pentecost, said, repent.

And so, there are two conditions. One, they had to believe and two, you got to repent. And then third, you got to be baptized, which is make the commitment.

Or, make sign, let's put it this way, sign the New Covenant Agreement, which is the New Covenant. That's baptism.

It's basically you and I signing our New Covenant with God through Christ.

Now, many people think, well, I've got to repent of things that I've done and I've got to believe in Christ. And therefore, they say, well, I've already been baptized. Maybe you've been baptized in XYZ Church.

And therefore, I don't need to be re-baptized, because I believe in Christ. I've repented of all my deeds.

Because, let's say the person was baptized when he was 16 or 18 or 20 or 25 or into another organization.

He says, I believed in Christ since that time and therefore I don't need to be baptized. Indeed, believe and be baptized, because that's really where people usually hang on. I believe and I was baptized. Believe and being baptized are conditions which could appear quite simple. Well, I believe in Christ. I was baptized. But that is not the case with repentance.

Repentance is not that easy, particularly if you have the full, deeper understanding of what repentance is all about.

Because human nature and its internal desire for self could be selfishness, could be vanity, could even be displayed in jealousy or in envy.

When somebody else gets promoted or somebody else gets blessings, why not me? I'm a bit jealous of that person. It's kind of natural emotions, right? Because it's our natural nature. That's all we made. We carnal. We're physical.

But even more, if people only think that repentance is what they've done, they can say, well, I've repented what I've done.

And I was repentant when I got baptized. But repentance of what we've done is only a portion of true repentance.

Because are we repentant of what we are?

And it's only when we are totally repentant, believe and repentant and baptized in Christ's name that is by Christ's authority, is that when they will receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands by one of God's ministers.

Now, if a person does not understand what repentance is, particularly if he doesn't understand what repentance is of what they are, how could they really be repentant? Because if they don't understand it, obviously it's a matter of the heart and only God knows.

Only God knows your heart. But I believe it is the job of a minister before he baptizes somebody to make sure that people understand what belief in God and in Christ is all about, who God is, who Christ is, part of believing that.

Part of a minister through the counseling process before baptism should make sure they understand what God's Holy Spirit is, the power and what the Holy Spirit does.

I believe that through the baptism counseling, the minister should make sure they understand that they've got to believe in God's Word, the Bible, and not just their own injection of ideas into the Bible.

I believe that part of that they've got to understand and trust that they receive all these gifts because of what Christ did and understand that we are justified by Christ, not by my own deeds and by my own faith. Part of the belief is they've got to believe in the Gospel because it says, believe the Gospel. Part of belief is they've got to believe in the mission.

What is the mission? Both collective and individual.

That's all part of believing. I believe, and that's how I practice when I counsel people for baptism, I go through all these points and make sure people understand that they know who God is, who Christ is, what the power of God's Holy Spirit is, the value of God's Word, that they're justified by faith, that they've got to understand what the Gospel is and they've got to believe in it. They've got to believe in what is the mission of us collectively and their individual mission because we have a mission.

You and I have a job description as the called out ones to be the first fruits of the Spirit and ultimately then the first fruits of the Kingdom.

It is important that people understand this. They've got to understand particularly, and this is what I'm focusing on today, what repentance is of what you are.

They've got to understand that not only what they believe, but then they've got to understand what repentance is, and then they've got to understand what repentance is of what they are.

And that is very important because then when they believe in that and they repent and they go to God through our Savior Jesus Christ, trusting obviously in His precious blood, but also in His precious work as our High Priest because we are saved by His life. So what is His work as our High Priest? And what is the outcome that God wants from us? Because the outcome is that we produce works, works, good works, as we read in Ephesians 2, verse 10.

It talks about, remember that you want Gentiles in the flesh, but remember there that we are His workmanship as we read in verse 10 through Christ for good works. So yes, we were Gentiles. We were out there in the world, uncircumcised, but our calling is to produce good works. And then a little lighter in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 24, it tells us because of that we've got to put on the new man.

Oh, we've read this so many times. We've got to put off the old man and put on the new man. But putting off the old man is putting off what we are.

It's not just what we've done. It's putting off what we are. And we've got to do that. And it says, put on the new man, which is created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.

That means we're going to have a new personality, not personality per se, but a new quality of person that is around righteousness, God's righteousness and holiness, which means being like God.

So for us to do that, it's what you and I have called for years.

Character. Righteous character. Nothing new. We've said that all along, that you and I need to develop godly character.

And that is the practice under different pressures and difficulties, etc., of resisting the thoughts and desires of our human nature.

In other words, repenting and putting that to action, that repentance of what we are and putting on the new man.

And that's why we're reading Isaiah 55 verse 7.

We read, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man, his thoughts.

And so thoughts, quite often, are things that you haven't done. But it's things that prick your mind that could lead to things that we do, but we haven't done.

But we've got to change that. And they're there because that's the way we are.

And it says, we need to return. Let him return. We need to turn from the old man to the new man.

And so true repentance is hard. It really is hard because it's against our natural tendency. You see, the human physical body is all about itself.

Unless we are particularly sensitive to others, a human being, by nature, is or tends to be ignorant to other people's pains, sufferings, or difficult challenges.

We worry about me, myself, and I. There is a natural tendency, as human physical beings, to look after our own needs and let our needs be attended to.

Now, is that wrong? No.

You see, because the natural carnal mind, that means the brain with the spirit of man in man that makes the brain think as a man, depends on the continuous existence of the physical body.

Because if our physical body has pain or has problems or does not function, the mind is going to say, I've got to protect the body. There's nothing wrong with that. But there is a balance. There is a balance that we need to care for others besides just caring for ourselves.

You see, the human body tries to control and impose upon the mind its physical needs. There's nothing wrong with that. But again, it's that balance.

Now, the world calls that an instinct of self-preservation. Yeah, we all have an instinct of self-preservation. But the problem is when that instinct of self-preservation is not managed and when that instinct, which is basically a pull, which is an attraction to self, over time gets trained through behavior to have more and more for the self.

Let me give you an example. A little baby is hungry and wants food. So the baby cries, and then mommy immediately, lovingly, makes sure that the baby is cared for. Maybe it's food, maybe it's a pain, whatever it is.

And after a while, mom knows how to distinguish the different cries. Well, this is anger or this is pain or whatever it is.

But we are unintentionally, now obviously I'm not saying that the mother should not do that. Of course it needs to do that. But unintentionally, we are teaching that growing baby that when you need something, for me myself, express it and those needs are fulfilled, or at least attempt to be fulfilled. And so through this learned experience, the human being, as he grows, is learning to get things and those desires are being fulfilled. And unconsciously, he's pre-programming that brain to have its needs fulfilled. So it becomes this natural carnal mind. And that's why we see, for instance, when children are called spoiled children, you know, maybe we say some other word, spoiled, whatever, you know. It's dangerous if we give the children everything. You know it is dangerous. You've got to teach them to work for certain things, not just to have everything. Otherwise, they become spoiled and that is not good.

You see, because there is this natural tendency in the brain to look after the physical things. And if we've been programmed over years and years and years of these things always being fulfilled, then we are developing this hunger to satisfy my own physical needs. And so, the physical body has a drawing effect on the mind which is not managing it to actually go along those physical things. And that's why it says the carnal mind, if it's not managed, it is against God's way because God's way is caring for others besides God.

But, one day when we become a spirit body a spirit body does not have to worry about his physical needs because a spirit body does not have physical needs. But if that brain has been trained in one wrong path, that is not what God wants as a spiritual body. So God wants a spiritual body that has learned to serve others even under difficult times. And that's why we have to repent of what we are, because we have this natural tendency to get to physical things, besides repenting of what we've done. This is very important. Now let's look at a few scriptures that address that in a little bit more detail. And the first one I want to look at is Proverbs chapter 14.

In Proverbs chapter 14 verse 12, it says, There's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. So to the physical brain, certain things appear correct. And you can extend this not just to physical needs, but to many other things in approach that in the end lead to pleasing self. And it appears right. It appears correct. But its end is not the right way.

You see, this is the carnal mind working, appearing correct to our brains, but it actually is not God's way. And we've got to learn to overcome that, to fight against that, to look beyond what we think is right. I'll give you an example. God gave to Adam and Eve the opportunity to choose between two trees. A tree of life and a tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve chose to follow the tree of knowledge good and evil. What does that mean? That means that they chose for themselves the way that seemed right, making their own choices instead of trusting what God tells us what is right. God tells us what is right through His laws and His principles. And so they chose this way that seems right.

And yes, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they are good things and they are bad things, but it's a mixture.

But there is the problem. There's a lot of things that may appear good, but there are certain things in there that are not good. And we've got to do God's way, which is the right way, the correct way.

So that's one scripture that explains a little bit about that. Another important scripture that explains about this is in Jeremiah 10, verse 23. So let's look at Jeremiah 10, verse 23. And there we read.

10, verse 23. Oh, Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself.

It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.

In other words, you and I, with our carnal mind, we really don't know the good, correct way of life, the tree of life. We reason ourselves, appears to be right. There's a lot of good things there, but we don't see it. And therefore, we go in a way, as we read in Proverbs 14, verse 12, that the result is death.

That's the way of the tree of knowledge, good and evil, which ends up in death. So this says, in verse 23 of Jeremiah 10, Oh, Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself. You and I, it's not in us to know the right way. Because, why? Because our carnal mind is being pulled down by the physical body and it's drawing or reaching certain incorrect conclusions. And that's why it says, then, in verse 24, Oh, Lord, correct me. In other words, I read this in a way, in a more gentle way, because quite often you think correction is, you take a big stick and hit somebody.

But I read it in a more gentle way, it says, correct me. Let me give you an example. If my watch tells me now it's a certain time, but I know because I've heard on the radio or I saw it in an electronic thing, whatever it is, that my watch is maybe a minute fast or a minute slow, I'm going to correct the watch. I'm going to adjust the watch to the correct time. It doesn't mean that now I'll take a hammer and break my watch.

It means that I'm just going to tweak it and adjust it. And so I read the scripture in a kind, loving way of saying, God, when you and I pray, God, please, in your loving kindness, because it says, yeah, with justice. And with justice, there's also does not necessarily mean with a big stick, but in our God's way is the weightier matters of the law is justice, mercy, and faith. And so that way of justice includes mercy.

God's justice comes with mercy. And so when we pray and ask God, please help me and correct me and guide me and teach me, but please God, in mercy, please God, in mercy. Always ask that, please. Because if you just ask something, God might give it to you, but it might not be in the way you were thinking about it. So please ask in mercy, in loving justice. So correct me in that. It was not in anger, not in that punishment. And why would it be so? If you and I are asking continuously God for, let's call it, small little tweaks and adjustments or little calibrations in our life to be following God all the time, it's not going to get so far online that he's going to be angry and he's going to correct us with anger because we are trying to please him.

So there's not going to be that anger. And that's why he's asking, Jeremiah, God, please give me a loving, kind little correction in loving kindness, please not in anger. Otherwise, as it says, you'll bring me to nothing. And so when we pray, we need to ask God, I know that I don't know the way. I know I want to repent of what I am. Please show me what I need to change.

The other compound that plays into this is in the same book, Jeremiah, but in chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17, because in verse 9 it says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. I would like you and I to think, or us to think, to say, my heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

Quite often we don't think, no, it's me. No, it's not me. I'm not deceitful. I'm not desperately wicked, but it says the heart, and I believe it applies to all of us. You see, the problem is we don't see our own faults. Why? Because the heart is deceitful. The heart is leading us up in a wrong path. There's a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is death. Why? Because we have been programmed since young childhood to have a number of needs fulfilled. And so our mind, our brain with the human spirit, has been programmed incorrectly. And that's what we've got to repent of, how we've been programmed, and we need to reprogram ourselves with the help of God's Holy Spirit to think differently.

Because our brain, our mind, as it says there, our heart, is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Because God is searching our brain and our hearts, it says. He says, I taste the mind. So God is testing us. So, yeah, God is looking at us. Am I looking at myself? Are you looking at yourself? And we need to say, I need to. The analogy I have is, in my mind, the way I think about this in my mind is, imagine you're driving on a highway.

And you want to change the lane, for instance, to the fast lane. It's so easy, if you're not careful, to change to the fast lane, and next thing you see a car right on top of you, because he was in your blind spot.

That happens. You've got to look carefully, double look, maybe three times look. Is there something coming on my blind spot before I change?

Spiritually is the same thing. You and I have a spiritual blind spot. You and I cannot see ourselves.

Oh, our spouses can. But I can't. You see? And I'm not doing it intentionally. It's just a blind spot.

You see, you're not doing it deliberately. It's just the way you and I are. We have blind spots, spiritually speaking. And you and I have to ask God, please show me my blind spots.

And this is what you read in Psalm 19, verse 12. Turn with me to Psalm 19, verse 12. 19, verse 12. Who can understand his errors, cleans me from secret faults.

I'll read that as like hidden faults or blind spots in my spiritual life. Show me, correct me in loving, kind, merciful way, please, for me to see these blind spots. Then I may change and please you.

That's what we're going to do.

You see, we all have these pulls. That pull is the wrong direction. We have those blind spots. You see, we're human. And this is what Paul mentioned in Romans, chapter 7. Turn with me to Romans, chapter 7.

Paul was struggling and recognizing that he had these blind spots, recognizing that he had this human frailty. And in Romans, chapter 7, verse 15, he says, I know for what I am doing, I do not understand.

You see, what's going on? For what I will to do, in other words, I want to do with my mind, with God's Holy Spirit, my mind with God's Holy Spirit wants to do what's right. But then I do not practice. I find that things that I don't want to do, they tend to come up in my life. And a little bit further ahead, reading in verse 21, he says, I find then a law that evil is present within me.

In other words, this is what I am that I've got to repent of. It's what I am. In me, the one who wills to do good, I want to follow God's way. I have God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is working with my human mind. And I want to do what's right, but I see this little thing creeping up. It's like you're baptized and the knee is sticking out. You know, the little toe is coming out. And you know, the minister says, well, make sure everything is out of the water. But I see this little thing, not again, trying to come out of the water.

And you're going to say, hey, get back in the water. You know, I mean, that's just an analogy. And so Paul continuing in verse 22, he says, I delight in the law of God according to what I want to do with God's Holy Spirit. Verse 23, but I see another law in my members, in my carnal body, warring against the law in my mind, which is God's Holy Spirit working now in my mind, and bringing me and bringing you and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.

And so Paul recognized that he had that carnal tendency. Could it be through blind spots? Could it be through pulls of the human nature? Whatever it may be, he realizes he had those wrong tendencies, and he was repentant of what he was. And therefore he said, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Because this body today, how we are, we have baked into us leaven, sin.

It's baked into the body. That's why I remember on the day of Pentecost, there's the two loves being waved, baked with leaven, granted they accepted before God, like you and I have sinned still. If you and I say, I have no sin, you read that, and John says, you're a liar. We have sinned. So we baked with leaven, but we still have access to God's throne. And that's why Paul says, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord.

In other words, when you and I get resurrected, we will not have this carnal body with this carnal pull. And we would have trained our brains and our minds and our thinking with God's Holy Spirit to always do what's pleasing to God. And that is what the outcome, the end result, is of repenting of what we are. Not just what we've done, because it's that tendency that we've got to change ourselves.

We've got to change that tendency. So that's why he says, so then with the mind in this body today, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. It doesn't mean now that justifies him to obey, I beg your pardon, to obey the law of sin. In other words, it doesn't justify him to be sinning. No, no. It doesn't justify that. He's not going to sin. He's not sinning. But he just knows he's got this proclivity, this tendency, he's going to be fighting all the time.

And he wishes he wouldn't have to be fighting it all the time. But as he says, there is a war worrying within me. And if you and I have this war in our minds, I would say it's a good time. Because it is that you have got the Holy Spirit, and you're fighting it. And that's good. I've come across some people and said, oh, I've got this war in my mind, what's wrong with me? I said, hooray, I'm glad you're having it.

Because then it means God's Spirit is working with you, and you want to overcome, and you want to change. Therefore, Chapter 8, verse 1, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ's years, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. We are walking according to the Spirit. We are living according to the Spirit.

But we recognize that this tendency, this war is there, and we're fighting it all the time. And you and I will fight it all the time until we die in this physical body. Because we are baked with leaven.

And then, in Romans 8, it says, So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God, but you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. Because you and I are walking according to God's Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, there is only one Spirit. So the Spirit of God is Christ's Spirit. It's the same Spirit. If anyone does not have the Spirit of God or not the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.

We don't belong to God and we don't belong to Christ.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin. We not only have died, but the acts, the deeds have died because we're not doing them anymore. But the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

And so Paul struggled with these things. And look at verse 14. He says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. So we need to be led by God's Holy Spirit to be the sons of God.

And look at verse 20.

For the creation was subject to futility not willingly.

God created us, being subject to this futility of the flesh. Not because God wants us to be always like this, but because he did it in hope. And the hope is that we overcome it and that we will become better people. And therefore, when we are spirit beings, God will never, never, ever again have another Satan in his hands.

Because we have learned to overcome it even when things are tough as physical beings. As spirit beings, things are a lot better. We will not have those physical difficulties and challenges. So he did it in hope, in hope for us.

So God is very loving and kind. He gives us time to repent.

And repentance is positive because when we repent and when we obey God, God's love is poured into our hearts. We read that in Romans 5 verse 5. And so repentance is positive. It's not throwing things away. What we're throwing away is the bad. We are putting in the good. The genuine, godly, outgoing, love, gracious, faith of God, all those good things of God.

And with that in mind, let's now read 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3.

And we're going to read verse 18. My little children, let us not laugh in word or in tongue. So let us just not be talk, but indeed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.

If our heart condemns sin, God is greater than our heart and He knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence towards God.

And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. So it's not just keeping the commandments. You know, there are people that keep the Sabbath. There are people that keep God's early days. For instance, the Jewish people. But they're not doing what is pleasing in His sight. It's more than just, I'm not saying they're all not doing, some are not doing, some may be doing. God knows the heart. The point is, there is more than just keeping the commandments. We've got to do the things that are pleasing in His sight. And one of those is repent of what we are. Verse 23, and this is the commandment that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandment. So we ought to love others. Now, the problem with the carnal mind is that the love for self becomes greater than the love for others.

And that is that balance. It says, love others as you love yourselves. In fact, Christ said, I'll give you a new commandment. Love as I have loved you, which is even more than what you love yourself. And that is what we need to do. And you and I can only do that through the power of God's Holy Spirit. And so man is not complete. Our mind today, which is the brain with the human spirit, the spirit of man in man, needs to be united, joined with the spiritual essence from God, which proceeds from the Father, which is God's Holy Spirit. And with that, then we start being led and living according to the Spirit. And through that habit of practicing, of putting away what we are and becoming more and more like God, that is the method of the way that God provides for us. So that ultimately we can be complete, happy, satisfied, and fulfilled, not just today, but eternally.