What Makes You Happy?
mmalanga | June 2, 2006The Traveler’s Advisory
Friday 2 June 2006
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”—Psalm 1.1
What does it take to make you happy? We live in a culture is obsessed with the pursuit of happiness. In fact, the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, states that “all men have been endowed by God with certain inalienable rights and that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
Pick up any newspaper, scan any magazine cover, watch TV, listen to the radio, surf the Web and you will soon discover that the pursuit of happiness is big business. People will pay anything, do anything, and try anything that promises to make them happy. So I ask again: What does it take to make you happy?
Before you answer, I must warn you that my question is flawed. It makes a false assumption. The assumption is that happiness is an emotional state of mind that can only be attained when certain conditions are met. For instance, complete the following statement: “I will be happy when…” (e.g., I graduate, get a job, live on my own, get married, get out of debt, lose weight, buy a new car, my kids move out of the house, am no longer in pain, etc.,). We live in a culture that believes in the pursuit of happiness. We believe happiness to be our primary purpose in life.
Happiness, we are told, is when things go our way, when we get what we want. According the Bible, that definition of happiness is a lie. Happiness is not having things go our way. Happiness is not dependent on our circumstances. Happiness is not always getting what we want, or when all our circumstances fall into perfect alignment. Never has been, never will be. The truth is, happiness is defined by having a relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. I am talking here of lasting, enduring, permanent happiness. People cannot offer us this kind of happiness. Things will not bring us this kind of happiness. Even good circumstances cannot bring us lasting happiness. Enduring happiness is the result of pursuing an enduring relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. Lifelong happiness is the result of a lifelong obedience to the eternal God and His word.
When the psalmist writes “Blessed is the man…” it is his declaration of independence from the cultural belief that happiness is when things go our way. The Hebrew word translated blessed can also be translated happy. This elevates happiness above dependence on people, possessions and perfect circumstances. No matter what happens to me, no matter who disappoints me, or how little or how much I have, nothing can separate me from the happiness of having a faith relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace. Happiness is more permanent than our circumstances. It is more reliable than people. It is more enduring than possessions. Happiness is the pursuit of an enduring relationship with the eternal God initiated by His grace.
In Romans 8.31-39, the apostle Paul declares that no matter how unhappy our circumstances are nothing can separate us from the happiness that comes from the eternal God through faith in Jesus Christ. The pursuit of happiness is the pursuit of an enduring relationship grounded in the unchanging character of the eternal God, not the shifting and slippery sands of time and space.
You think about that.
MM
