Pursuing Happiness vs. Receiving Blessings

“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.