Lets try to make this under word count this week!
Here we go...
I will speak on Zinger #407 and #136
#407
Happiness is neither outside nor inside us; it is in God, [who is] both inside and outside us.
#136
I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
I do not think Pascal speaks of happiness as in circumstance, neither in joy, but as in satisfaction. We cannot sit and be still. We are ever going, ever desirous, ever moving. We long for something outside of ourselves yet go within ourselves to answer the desire. We all need love, happiness, and to be satisfied in that. Let us then read happiness as satisfaction. Satisfaction, as Pascal means, isn't outside of us. There is nothing in this world that can satisfy. Satisfaction also isn't inside of us. Our heart's state by itself is corrupted and empty, and our feelings aren't constant. It is a swirling void of a sea. Even though we find the things we long after of the world do not satisfy, we still pursue hastily after them. Ecclesiastes 6:7 says that "The appetite of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled." C. S. Lewis had this saying, and I paraphrase, "If nothing in this world can be made to satisfy, then the only other alternative is that we weren't made for this world." That's the key.
Now we see that although satisfaction can't be found inside or outside of us, it can however be found in God, who is outside of us, and through Christ, is inside of us. He is the only thing that can satisfy, and once you find rest in Him, you can be still and know that He is Lord. We can find satisfaction and rest in the fact that he makes us whole, our existence purposeful, our lives meaningful, our days hopeful, and our destiny secure!
_________________________________________
Is there even anyone to comment on this week?
Here we go...
I will speak on Zinger #407 and #136
#407
Happiness is neither outside nor inside us; it is in God, [who is] both inside and outside us.
#136
I have often said that the sole cause of man's unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.
I do not think Pascal speaks of happiness as in circumstance, neither in joy, but as in satisfaction. We cannot sit and be still. We are ever going, ever desirous, ever moving. We long for something outside of ourselves yet go within ourselves to answer the desire. We all need love, happiness, and to be satisfied in that. Let us then read happiness as satisfaction. Satisfaction, as Pascal means, isn't outside of us. There is nothing in this world that can satisfy. Satisfaction also isn't inside of us. Our heart's state by itself is corrupted and empty, and our feelings aren't constant. It is a swirling void of a sea. Even though we find the things we long after of the world do not satisfy, we still pursue hastily after them. Ecclesiastes 6:7 says that "The appetite of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled." C. S. Lewis had this saying, and I paraphrase, "If nothing in this world can be made to satisfy, then the only other alternative is that we weren't made for this world." That's the key.
Now we see that although satisfaction can't be found inside or outside of us, it can however be found in God, who is outside of us, and through Christ, is inside of us. He is the only thing that can satisfy, and once you find rest in Him, you can be still and know that He is Lord. We can find satisfaction and rest in the fact that he makes us whole, our existence purposeful, our lives meaningful, our days hopeful, and our destiny secure!
_________________________________________
Is there even anyone to comment on this week?
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