WHICH AGENDA AND WHOSE?: HAPPINESS IN THIS LIFE VERSUS ULTIMATE HAPPINESS IN THE FUTURE LIFE

*As Ordained:

So many individuals read the Bible with the perspective of thinking it will provide a better life in THIS world.  This leads to 1) failure of attempting to use Biblical/Spiritual principles in reaching their material/physical goals/existence, 2) disillusionment in the spiritual due to failure in this faulty application 3) perpetuation of the false teaching of being able to "have it now" materially and physically (by attempting to use spiritual principles), a lure to which we humans are very susceptible 4) failure in understanding God's nature and true ultimate agenda, 5) being robbed of the comfort that is available with accurate understanding of God's agenda (our future existence beyond this life) when life/God does not meet their material-world expectations. 6) negative judgment of others.

Are there societal/cultural, and psychological principles (and even some Biblical principles) that may enhance greater "success" in this life?  Yes.  But "success"/"happiness"/"well-being in this world/life is NOT God's primary agenda - or even part of His agenda.  His agenda is: "See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have refined you in the furnace of affliction." in order to form us in HIS image for our existence with Him in the next life.  And His agenda/plan cannot be changed by our behavior (either positive or negative) or assisted by our "success"/"prosperity" here or impeded by what may appear to us or others as our "failures" here.  And much of the time, His Agenda is diametrically opposed to our "fleshly well-being" here (Isaiah 45: 6 &7 "I am the I AM ALWAYS AM (YHWH) and there is NO Other, the One forming light AND creating darkness, causing well-being AND creating calamity.  I am the I AM ALWAYS AM (YHWH) who does ALL these.").  No amount of our applying principles that may support "success" here can insure our "prosperity/happiness" here or hereafter or influence His predetermined outcomes.

Scriptures from the Old Testament, in which God promised the Jews that if they perfectly obeyed God they would be rewarded and if not, they would be "punished": (Deuteronomy 28:1 "If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth."; Malachi 2:2 "'If you do not listen, and if you do not resolve to honor my name (nature/character),' says the LORD (YHWH - I AM Always AM) Almighty, 'I will send a curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not resolved to honor me.'") These scriptures taken out of context of the "full counsel of the scriptures" have been a fertile field to perpetuate the erroneous idea of reward and punishment in this life based on perfect "obedience".  And these erroneous interpretations have been used by many to forward their incorrect message of it being God's desire/agenda for them to have "prosperity in this life".

Missing in their interpretation is generally God's message that the "law" (obedience to God's "commands" was given to 1) teach examples of the kinds of human behavior that "miss the mark" (Greek: hamartia - missing the mark; Latin: "sin" - without) of God's perfection  2) To show God's "chosen" people (using the historical nation of Israel as an example but the lesson including the nature of ALL humanity), that no matter what the possible "rewards" of obedience to God, fallen human nature (being subject to death, pain, scarcity, fear -  and all the other ripples of this God-ordained part of the process) would never be capable of adhering to God's perfection/laws.  Thus laying the groundwork for God's primary message, that humans would have to be "born again" of the Spirit - the indwelling Spirit of God Himself, as the Son possessed eternally, to guarantee the human race's ability to perfectly desire and conform to God's Will...without fallen human nature as an ongoing saboteur of that ability.

Adam had fellowship with God and was brought into existence by God "breathing" life, His breath, into Adam. (Genesis 2:7 "Then the I AM ALWAYS AM (YHWH) God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.")  There was obviously some ordained, intentional deficit in Adam's nature that led to Adam's acting on that deficit with his being lured to Satan's "promise" that Adam could be "like God".  The "Lie" that any created being could be "like God" and have a will that was independent of God's will (i.e. the "Lie" of the possibility of "free will") was what got Satan's butt kicked out of heaven. Spreading that "Lie" to "angels", and then to man was another part of God's ordained plan that we will only understand "fully" in the next life, but not "fully" in this one.

Aside comment: Interesting that, in Hebrew the YHWH that make up God's "memorial name/nature" given to Moses are breath sounds.  They are "unpronounceable", which may be a significant origination of the idea that entered Judaism (and continues to the present in modern Israel) that the YHWH is too "holy" to be uttered.  The YHWH meaning "I AM ALWAYS AM" or variations of this by different historical translators.  Following some logical steps, a fascinating speculation would be that when God breathed" into Adam, He used the "breath sounds" that later were given as His personal name/nature, ie "I AM ALWAYS AM", with the interesting inherent promise of Adam's race ultimately (not only coming into existence) having the same existence as God's, as part of being "one" with Him, and being of both eternity past, present, and future with Him, thus also becoming I AM ALWAYS AM.

The difference in Adam's nature and the nature of Jesus, AND of us as His bride/beloved/body is that we will be One with Him, not just a creature/creation brought into existence by the breath of earthly life given by Him, but "One as We are One." (John 17:22)  And the "guarantee" that we will not be subject to a future "fall" as with Satan and Adam, because, as with God the Son, He will be in us and us in Him...a new creation, born of The Spirit (Breath).

Conclusion:

1) God's agenda is for the best eternal life for His Children (ALL Humanity), which includes His providing that eternal life through the work of Jesus (I AM Saves), God the Son, AND to make us each human into His Image, each a unique reflection of Himself as His Handiwork as He imagined before the world was created. (II Timothy 1:9 "[God] hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began . . .")
2) He uses this life (the Valley of the Shadow of Death, the Refiner's Fire) as part of this process.  ALL that occurs to each and every one of us and to everything in creation was ordained by Him since eternity past. (Isaiah 45:6&7; II Tim 1:9)
3) Our vision is limited by Him to this world and our primary fleshly/human agenda, as ordained by Him through Adam's fall, which is to avoid death, pain and scarcity and seek pleasure. He uses this in so many ways that we experience in our earthly existence as often painful, frightening, and deadly, in order to accomplish His Plan of reconciling us to Himself and perfecting us in His Image.
4) Nothing we do or are can change His Plan.   Our actions and character are as He has ordained for that Perfect Plan.
5) When we practice the vision of the NEXT life as our goal (THY WILL NOT MINE IS DONE), our fearful "flesh" can be comforted no matter the circumstances  (II Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ; Phillipians 4:11 & 19 "I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances"; "And my God will meet ALL your needs [obviously not talking about this earthly/material existence] according to His glorious riches in Christ (Greek -Anointed) [Psalm 45:7 & Hebrews 1:9 "anointed with the oil of gladness"] Jesus (Hebrew: I AM Saves)."
6) Therefore: Let us encourage ourselves and others that God's Agenda, as with any good parent, is for our joy in our REAL LIVES [ETERNALLY] and NOT with our comfort/prosperity/health/life in THIS world.  This life is a difficult and painful classroom, but one that is deemed and formed as necessary by our Heavenly Father for us to attend in order to fashion/fit us for the perfect and eternally joyful life with Him and ALL of humanity.

*It is always most important to keep in mind that ALL that we see or experience or ARE is ordained by God for HIS ultimate agenda of ALL humans and ALL creation being one with Him through eternity: Romans 11:36 "For from out of Him and through Him and into Him is ALL"; Him in us and us in Him Colossians 1: 27 ..."Christ in you the hope of glory"; Galatians 2:20 "and I no longer live but Christ lives in me."; Jesus finally putting ALL under God - I Corinthians 15:28 "...that God may be ALL in ALL".  God ordaining ALL for His purposes includes what we, from our earthly perspective, may experience as negative in this material life:  how we have been Ordained to interpret/misinterpret spiritual writings, including the Bible (historically or currently), religions or spiritual "light"/"darkness" of any kind, (historically and currently), world events (prehistorically, historically and currently), all human behavior (historically and on a day to day basis), events in nature and in our physical bodies (historically and currently), etc. etc. Our human "wiring" makes our primary agenda survival and  secondarily immediate gratification (diminishing pain and increasing pleasure for ourselves and those about whom we care).