Consider the assumption that unhappiness is more interesting than happiness. Tolstoy's maxim in Anna Karenina is regularly cited: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
But is that really true? I have found just the opposite to be the case. An encounter with a happy family or happy marriage -- where people love and support one another; where they find joy in the very being of the other -- is almost always more fascinating than unhappiness.
Unhappiness is a dreary replaying of deadly sins -- envy, pride, resentment, hatred, and endless variations on the "old dreadfuls" of human depravity. It is all so predictable.
Happiness, by way of sharpest contrast, surprises and delights.
--From As I Lay Dying by Richard John Newhaus
[I can sure vouch for this! The Christians I know are spontaneous, free, unpredictable, and fun to be around! More so than my unbelieving friends!]
I have come that they might have life, and that they have it more abundantly. (John 10:10 NKJV)
My purpose is to give life in all its fullness. (John 10:10 NLT)
I came so that they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. (John 10:10 The Message)
Though you have not see Him, you love Him; you believe in Him and are filled with inexpressible and glorious joy. (1 Peter 1:8 NIV)
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