We Have No Right To Happiness & Longing and Hope

In our reading of Engaging God's World by Cornelius Plantinga Jr., it talked about longing and hope. Everyone desires something and longs for something. In most cases, people tend to long for earthly stuffs. We long for our own health, money, wealth, etc., because we are all selfish. However, "the truth is that nothing in this earth can finally satisfy us."We have to long for something good and shape our future based on what God wants us to do. Center all our hopes on Jesus Christ and let the Holy Spirit guide us, because "under the influence of the Holy Spirit, one man's hope spreads out to cover all humankind." 

In class, we talked about two different examples. The first example was that of Mr. A and Mrs. B from the article 'Have No Right To Happiness.' Mr. A married Mrs. A just because of her outer appearances. When Mrs. A grew old and she lost all her beauty and liveliness, Mr. A wanted to divorce her and marry Mrs. B who was in the same situation as Mr. A. Mrs. B's life after marriage was not the one that she had dreamed of for many years. Mr. B apparently lost his virility and his job. Somehow, Mr. A and Mrs. B met and 'fell in love.' Both Mr. A and Mrs. B declared that they had the right to be happy as everyone else and argued about why it is not good to divorce their ex-partner. Their longings and their definition of happiness was based on sex, beauty, and money. What was wrong in this relationship was that they both desired the wrong things. Sooner or later, the relationship between Mr. A and Mrs. B will come to an end because of the same reasons.

The second example was that of our professors. Prof. Ribeiro had married Mrs. Ribeiro and stayed together thirty three years. Prof. Ribeiro said that they wouldn't have been able to stay together if he married his wife just because of her beauty. He had not based his desires on selfish needs as Mr. A because he knew that after all what matters the most is the inside not the outer appearances. It was a decision he had made after years of prayers and guidance.  

Through this class, I learned that we should put God first and center all our hopes in Jesus Christ. Stay awake and walk towards our goal (which of course should be based on Jesus). Rejoice in the Lord.

"For the sinful self is not my real self, it is not the self You have wanted for me, only the self that I have wanted for myself. And I no longer want this false self. But now Father, I come to You in your Own Son's self... and it is He Who presents me to You." -Thomas Merton