How would most people answer this question "What do you think it would take to make you happy?" Most people are going to describe something that is different from the life they have now, a change in the physical circumstances - get married or have a child or get a better job or live in a different neighborhoold.
Achieving happiness is not an ideal found in the Bible. Or is it?
God is not concerned with my happiness. Or is He?
Money can’t buy happiness. Or can it?
Humans seek pleasure. I don’t think any of us would argue with that statement. The pleasure I experience becomes my own happiness ….. sometimes.
God designed humans to seek pleasure. However, I often sabotage my own happiness by pursuing pleasure in unsatisfying ways.
God’s intention was not to deny us pleasure; in fact, He created the world for our pleasure, “put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17b)
The problem is that I think I know how to find happiness. Pursuing my own idea of happiness often results in pain, not pleasure.
Think of the number of people who thought they found the love of their lives. Then, through the years, they are hurt and the "love of their lives" turn into their enemy.
We also see people who work to get a particular job, only to end up disappointed and disillusioned in that position.
Jesus said He came to give us a full life, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10b)
God wants me to find joy, peace, and contentment in my life on earth. He wants me to find them through a personal, intimate relationship with Him. That pleasure will not go unfulfilled.
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about His search for pleasure and the meaninglessness of life. When talking about the summation of the book, Walter Kaiser explains, “No one good part of God’s good world will give fulfillment until a person comes to know Him.”
John Piper suggests that our ultimate pleasure in life comes from finding our joy in God. Why would we want anything less than the abundant life?
Too often we settle for a poor resemblance of pleasure and happiness. C.S. Lewis put it this way, “We are far too easily pleased.”
God cares about how I feel. The Psalms clearly show many expressions of despair and anxiety, alongside God’s comfort. (Psalms 55-56)
As I fill my life with Him, He can overflow into other lives through me. How do I allow Him flow through me to others? The avenues I pursue determine much of my happiness.
[See the next blog for details about this idea.]
