I don’t know about you, but I imagine it’s hard to find a happier creature on earth than a mouse in a bucket of cheese! Can you imagine the contentment, the abundance and peace a hungry mouse would experience in a case like this? Sure, the cheese would get eaten and the poor mouse would go hungry again, but what a feast of blessings for our furry friend.
Like many people, I have experienced that kind of happiness. The blessings I received, however, were of the longer-lasting sort, the everlasting sort, and when I found the way to that happy state, all I wanted to do was share that happiness with others.
In Psalm 1:1, David told about blessedness, but not just any kind. Biblical blessedness is a supreme kind of happiness. It is an incomparable joy – the joy of knowing, with confidence, that you are held joyfully in the heart of our Creator. All my life, I was hungry for the truth. I thirsted for spiritual peace and understanding. I searched many philosophies and found nothing except pure unaltered Christianity that made any sense. I searched different faith groups that claimed to be Christians but found them lacking in love and obedience to the laws of Christ. He said if we loved Him, we would obey Him. John 14:15 is so simple that anyone being honest with himself can understand it!
In Romans 3:23, we read that “all have sinned.” Therefore, we need a Savior because our sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). Yet, He provided us a way to be with Him. In Isaiah 1:18-19, the prophet proclaimed the Word of the Lord, “‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the Lord, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land’” (NKJV). Notice the condition in verse 19, “If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land.”
In John 3:16, we read that God loved the whole of humanity and, through the gift of His Son, He offers forgiveness for any who obey His Anointed One (Luke 15:5-7). The condition is obedience. Jesus said that any who believe and are baptized shall be saved (Mark 16:16). What our Redeemer brings is the greatest gift in all of eternity. No one else – not Buddha, Muhammad, Marx or Mao – comes even close. Jesus offers wonderful things, one of which is the forgiveness of sins, which will save us from hell (Luke 19:10 and Roman 6:23). He said He would quench my thirst and satisfy my hunger, not just for now, but for always (John 6:35). The Lord even offers to give me a home with Him, where the children of God will live forever. In fact, He has prepared it for us (John 14:3). The Lord Jesus came to rescue you and me from our sins with all their guilt and uncertainties (Luke 19:10). He came to give us a life worth living (John 10:10) and something to which to look forward after we leave this world (Revelation 2:10).
In addition to all of this, Jesus gives us a mission to share this good news of the Gospel with everyone we can (Mark 16:15). So, He provides forgiveness of sins, an eternal life and a purposeful life filled with joyful and honorable service. This purposeful life gives a reason for our existence and a mission from Him that is unequaled in history (John 15:11).
When I heard this, I thought, “What an amazing offer!” It did not take me long at all to accept it! I decided to be baptized faster than a hot knife goes through butter! Get me clean, Lord, cleansed from sin and blessed by God right now! I was asked if I wanted to come back to the church building when the water was warm. I said to the preacher, “No, sir! I might not have tomorrow!” I was ready to get right with God, freezing-cold water or not! I went under in my sin and came up a saint of God! For all these reasons and more, I was happy as a mouse in a bucket of cheese!
