“What is Happiness?”
We live our lives wanting happiness,
seeking happiness, and believing that we deserve happiness. We place happiness at or near the top of our priorities
and most other desires we seek are useful only if they help us find
happiness. Relationships, jobs, wealth,
health, knowledge, and wisdom are deemed to be good if they make us happy; both
for the moment and projected into the future.
Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, a place with no worries, no
wars, no sickness, no arguing…. so what went wrong? Why weren't they happy? They walked with God every day. They knew and experienced the love of
God. What could be better than
that? The answer is; “nothing”.
The serpent came along and convinced
them that they were unhappy. He
convinced them that what they had wasn't good enough. He convinced them that God wasn't enough. They were deceived. That is the problem with trying to identify
what will make us happy. We are so
easily deceived and the truth is we don’t even know what will make us happy or bring us contentment. Adam and Eve had God, but they chose to seek
happiness according to their desires as introduced by Satan. Satan convinced them that they were unhappy
without even knowing what happiness was.
As I imagine the Garden of Eden, I would
think that Adam and Eve were having a pretty satisfying experience. It is very hard to believe that it could get
any better, yet better is what they sought and seeking better is what led them
to separation from God. A word that the
Bible uses and we equate with happiness is “blessedness”. I guess I can see where Adam and Eve got
confused and how Satan uses the same tactics to confuse us today. Blessedness is a state of being, where
happiness is a feeling that we experience.
Adam and Eve were truly blessed by God and they lived in His
blessedness, yet they believed the lie that they could feel more blessed
(happier) if they took control. This
taking control, believing that we deserve and will attain more by looking for
happiness according to our feelings, separates us from God and His blessings
that He has surrounded us with.
Happiness can be as much of a life
hurdle as unhappiness. There are drug
addicts and alcoholics who are only happy when they are under the influence of
the drugs that control them. There are
child abusers who find happiness in abusing children, rapists who seek
happiness in the violent act of rape. Adulterers
have very happy relationships with lovers knowing that they are bringing misery
to their marriage and family. We better
be pretty careful when we decide that happiness is our life’s pursuit. Blessings are received from God…Happiness can be a pursuit with no finish line until you discover that Jesus is the finish line.
What Do We Deserve?
Jesus came from heaven to earth for
one purpose, to be a blessing to all who believe in Him!
Jesus had it even better than Adam and Eve. The Garden of Eden was good, but it wasn't heaven. Jesus lived in glory. If His desire was to feel happy and seek
happiness, He never would have left heaven to live on earth. At the very least, He would have chosen to be
born in a palace or a temple, certainly not a stable. You would think that he deserved wealthy
parents with servants and all the comforts that earth could afford. When we think of being happy, we think of
such things along with security, health, shelter, and the devotion of
others. He had it all in heaven, so why wouldn't He deserve it here?
Jesus did not live His life seeking
what He deserved. He lived His life
content with what God provided. Jesus
was aware of the blessings that His father gave him. Jesus’ awareness gave Him a heart of
thankfulness. As we read the gospels, we
see that Christ experienced sadness. He
wept with the family and friends of Lazarus.
He was angry when His Father’s house of prayer was turned into a den of
thieves. His disciples frustrated him
with their petty arguments, their lack of understanding, their lack of faith,
their greed, and their fears. He
experienced hunger, thirst, and every temptation during His forty days in the
wildness. He deserved better, yet he was
content and joyful knowing that He had all He needed; wanting nothing more.
As a celebrity, I would have thought
that Jesus would have been able to provide His followers with luxurious living
and the best of dining. How could He be
adored and admired if He couldn't provide the best of experiences? But at two of His biggest appearances He only
had a few fish and loaves of bread to feed the audience. Where were the caterers? Who planned the event and how could they fail
so miserably? Christ never had to ask
who planned the events of His life. He
knew, He trusted, He received and was blessed with all that He needed. God was His planner, and all went according
to God’s plan because Jesus never took control.
As we read John 17, I believe that
we learn how Jesus felt about what He deserved and what He desired. He desired to be in His Father’s glory just
as He had been before (John 17: 5). In
verse 6 he acknowledges that He made God’s name known to “those
whom you gave me. They were yours, and
you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given
me is from you…”. God
gave and Jesus received and cherished what He received, so that God would be
glorified. As we continue through
Christ’s prayer, He reveals His desires and they were not for himself. Jesus asked God to care for those who come to
believe in Him through His word.
Christ’s desires were not centered on Himself but on those whom God gave
Him and came to know Him as Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ came to earth so that He could accomplish what God
desired…John 17: 24…”Father, I desire that those also, whom you
have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given
me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” We need to replace what we think we deserve
with wanting what God wants!
I
am not happy and it is your fault!
Marriages break up every day and
marriage counselors hear it over and over…”I’m just not happy and I haven’t
been for years.” So the remedy to this
state of unhappiness is to get a divorce because my spouse does not make me
happy. Well God apparently couldn't make
Adam and Eve happy so they did the right thing, according to this argument, and
separated themselves from God. We all
know how that turned out!
When
happiness becomes our goal, we put that burden on everyone and everything
around us. Our friends are only good if
they make us happy. Our possessions have
value if they bring happiness and are worthless if they don’t. My job must make me happy as well as all
those people I work with. Our demand
for happiness becomes a burden that we place on the people who care for us the
most and it is a burden they cannot carry.
If God did not satisfy Adam and Eve, how can we expect our family and
friends to do what God would not do?
Far too often, when we are expecting a friend
or loved one to deliver happiness because we are unhappy, we cannot even
identify what we need them to do. We
just expect them to make things better.
Satan convinced Adam and Eve that God had not delivered enough and they
believed that there was more to obtain than God had given them. That is what we do with our loved ones every
day. We believe that they can deliver
more than they are and we demand that they increase whatever it is that is
lacking, even though we cannot identify it.
We
have two major flaws in our pursuit of happiness. First, we cannot accurately identify why we
are unhappy, so we have a diagnosis problem.
Second, we cannot confidently and with certainty say what will make us
happy, so we have a prescription problem.
“I would be happy if you helped
out around the house.” One month
later…”I would rather do it myself than
have to follow behind you and do it right”.
“If we had more money, we would be happier.” One year later…”All you do is work and you never have time for me”. “I just need some space and time to
myself”. Six months later…”We have grown apart.” It is pretty obvious that we do not know
what the real issues are and we certainly don’t have the answers how to address
them. If we looked at those around us as
blessings from God, we would see the qualities in them that we could embrace
and be thankful for.
Optimism
(Happiness) vs. Pessimism (Unhappiness)
If we replace the words” happiness and
unhappiness” with “optimism and pessimism” I think we can begin to put the
pursuit of happiness in its proper place in our lives. An optimistic person is one who lives with
hope, faith, and trust that allows them to not dwell on the negative but see
the positive in even the worst of situations.
A pessimistic person cannot find anything positive which indicates a
lack of hope, faith, and trust. The
byproducts of positive thinking and negative thinking are happiness and
unhappiness. Satan attacked Adam’s and
Eve’s faith and trust in God in order to introduce them to unhappiness. They lost sight of all the goodness around
them and instead focused on what they imagined they could have, or more
rightly, what they did not have. The
fact is that what Satan convinced them they needed, only lead to separation
from God and all the blessings that were wrapped in that relationship. They were deceived, lied to, and their
neediness grew instead of being satisfied.
Jesus lived a life of faith and
knowing that God was in control and that God’s plan was good. He did not live without hope and trust;
therefore He did not live a pessimistic life.
He placed His optimism (hope, trust, and confidence) in His Father and
never lost the vision of God’s goodness and glory. If we search for God in every situation, we
will find that same goodness and glory surrounding us. Negative thoughts, fears, and hopelessness
will be washed away when we catch a glimpse of God’s glory. It does take effort and desire to turn away
from the worldly images and focus on those from above. Before you can put forth this effort though,
you must believe and know that God is good and in love with you. That was why Jesus came and died for us…so
that we would know and believe. The Holy
Spirit lives within believers so that belief will be manifested in us. He will correct our wrong thinking. He will replace lies with truth. He will open our eyes to see God in the midst
of darkness. He will walk with us, as
God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden, unless we separate ourselves from
Him.
God wants us to enjoy His blessings...living in joy and contentment and sharing His love with all those we meet. My joy and happiness is in knowing my Savior, Jesus Christ.
God wants us to enjoy His blessings...living in joy and contentment and sharing His love with all those we meet. My joy and happiness is in knowing my Savior, Jesus Christ.
