The Pursuit of Happiness

The Pursuit of Happiness

It stands to reason that everyone wants to be happy. But how does one become truly happy?

Our National Declaration of Independence conveys the idea that our Creator endowed us with certain freedoms, one of which enables us to the pursuit of happiness. 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

Happiness is often and easily mistaken to simply refer to a status of life that satisfies our desires.

Even when people do things that will ultimately make them miserable, one could argue that they are still trying to make themselves happy. The problem is, we often look for happiness in all the wrong places (Isaiah 55:2, Jer. 2:13).

We all seek personal happiness in a variety of ways. Some people search for happiness in sports, music, drugs, alcohol, sex, money, pleasure and in relationships. But all too often these external factors betray our sense of happiness. 

The worlds understanding of happiness usually tends to be “externally” triggered and is based on our interactions with other people, things, places, thoughts, money, pleasure, entertainment, travel, adventure, and a host of other things that tend to stimulate our emotions in a satisfactory way.

A typical dictionary defines Happiness as an emotional state characterized by feelings of satisfaction, excitement, pleasure, enjoyment, success and personal accomplishment. 

Thus, the casual social understanding of Happiness is connected to something we feel because of our situation or circumstances. We are happy because someone or something made us temporarily happy.

But can this truly be Happiness; if it simply involves our emotions and depends solely on external circumstances? 

Surely our Creator has offered some counsel on Happiness. But when I word search the Bible for the word “happiness” I find not a single solitary usage. 

However, the Bible does infer the word “Happy” over two dozen times and in each usage there is a direct reference to the word Joy! 

Joy is more consistent than happiness and is cultivated “internally.” It comes when you make peace with who you are, and why you even exist.

We can only be joyful because of something deep within us. 

The Greek word for joy is chara. The biblical definition of the word “Joy” is related to the natural reaction within a person to the work of God.

Galations 5:22 implies that Joy, or true happiness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit! Therefore for a person to be truly “Happy” he must be filled with the “Joy” that can only come from the Lord; and living in full communion with mans purpose for being.

Thus, the human zeal for the pursuit of happiness is not the same thing as the pursuit of pleasure. 

To the contrary, “Happiness” is not an external trigger; but rather an “inner conviction” that all is right with our Lord and Creator. It is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment with his purposes for our lives! Ok

But is our personal happiness God’s ultimate goal for us? Does He even want us to be happy?

We were created by God in His very own image, and it is His design that creates our innate desire to be happy beyond our wildest dreams. In fact he wants us to be internally joyful! 

Spiritual laws (Gods laws) are as real as physical laws, and there are spiritual laws governing our internal happiness. God’s path to happiness often goes a different direction from the path we would naturally choose. 

God's desire is to make us holy, not just temporarily happy. True happiness is a “blessed” life, and it only comes when we seek God first, above all else.

Psalms 146:5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: 

How is your Pursuit of Happiness? 

by: Darrell G. Young

Focus on the Bible