3 Mindsets That Steal Your Holiday Happiness

Last updated on: December 12, 2019 at 5:00 am by Mark Driscoll

3 Mindsets That Steal Your Holiday Happiness 2019-12-10T13:49:50-05:00 Mark Driscoll

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Philippians 1:18-19 – I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out…

In our study of Philippians, we have established that the main theme is joy as words such as joy and rejoice appear some 19 times in the 104 verses of the little book. The first time I preached through Philippians verse-by-verse was around a dozen years ago. In hindsight, I believe I could have done a better job teaching the book, which is why I am very excited to be preaching it this holiday season for the wonderful folks in our church family.

The first time I taught the book, I had more information about joy than an impartation of joy. What I lacked was a fullness in the Spirit who alone can bring enduring, deep, profound, and unshakeable joy. This was the experience of Jesus who, “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21) and can be the experience of Christians as “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…” (Galatians 5:22).

How is your joy this holiday season? Looking back, I believe there were three mindsets that seek to steal our happiness:

Past – We have regrets about what we have done in our past or hold onto grudges against those who hurt us in the past, which kills joy in the present.
Present – We believe the lie that if the person or circumstance causing us pains and problems were under control then we’d be happy, as we never see life come together perfectly until the Kingdom.
Future – As we frantically chase a hope or dream, we wrongly believe the myth that, “I will be happy when __________.” When we graduate, get a job, get married, buy a house, have kids, pay off our credit cards, etc. may never happen, and if it does, we are still unhappy.

These three mindsets kill your joy because joy comes from the Lord by the Spirit. Without His joy, you cannot fully enjoy anything from your past, present, or future.

Which of these three mindsets is the toughest trap for you to avoid?

Daily Devotions

Previous Post

December 11, 2019

Find Joy Even When You are Lonely

Next Post

December 13, 2019 Could Your Suffering Be a Christmas Gift?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ask Pastor Mark Blog Daily Devotions Sermons Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 December 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

I fell from a third-story window during a long sermon and died. But I was raised back to life. Who am I?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Dorcas Tabitha Eutychus A young man