Do You Want To Be Happy?
By: Zach Collins
Several years ago, in an interview during his battle with cancer, theologian Francis Schaeffer said, “The only way to be foolishly happy in this world is to be young enough, well enough, and have money enough–and not give a care about other people. But as soon as you don’t have any of the first three, or if you have compassion for the weeping world around you, then it is impossible to have the foolish kind of happiness that I believe some Christians present as Christianity.”
The answer to the question, “How can I find happiness?”, is also the answer to the question, “How can I stop being miserable?”
Christianity is not a life of prevailing happiness, but enduring joy. The principles and precepts of the Bible necessitate that these concepts must be different. If not, the inspired writers were liars. Happiness is contingent upon circumstances, whereas joy can be found in every circumstance (James 1:2-3). If you are searching for the destination in your life where you will always be happy, and never feel a moment of melancholy, your meritless and misguided pursuit will end in the same emotion as the thousands before you, disappointment.
O wandering soul, listen. Happiness is like cosmetics, but joy is like character. Happiness deals with the outside, but joy deals with the inside. Happiness deals with surface needs, but joy deals with the deepest needs. Happiness registers conditions, but joy regulates conditions.
Now, for a moment, let us answer the two aforementioned questions.
First, how can I stop being miserable?
– Stop pursuing happiness in wealth (Ecclesiastes 2:4-9). Solomon was so wealthy he would make Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos look penniless. Yet, in his pursuit of happiness through worldliness, he found that the lover of money is also a lover of emptiness.
– Stop pursuing happiness in wisdom (Ecclesiastes 12:12). Many seek to find happiness in education, puffing themselves up with knowledge unbeknownst to others. But, knowledge without love is vanity and vanity will never satisfy (c.f., 1 Corinthians 13:8).
– Stop pursuing happiness in wine (Ecclesiastes 2:3): How many people have searched for happiness at the bottom of a bottle, only to find broken hearts, homes, and hopes?
– Stop pursuing happiness in pleasure (1 Kings 11:3): Solomon had 700 wives and over 300 concubines. He believed more happy women could bring more happiness. Solomon, like most, was deceitfully lured into a destructive cycle that promises more than it can ever pay. In the end, it was always concluded in the same concurrence, disappointment.
Second, how can I find happiness?
– Learn your purpose (Ecclesiastes 12:13): I know little, but I do know this. Man is a spiritual being and the only resource that can bring him fulfillment is, in fact, spirituality.
– Learn contentment (Philippians 4:13): We are up to our eyes in debt and doodads, all because we believed that money would bring us happiness. We were wrong.
– Learn to serve (Acts 20:35): If you learn to invest in others, you will learn purpose.
– Learn to build a happy home (Proverbs 18:22): A man who has found a wonderful wife strolls with a certain strut of confidence knowing he has found a great blessing.
– Learn the assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13): Christianity is misery for the person who knows about Hell and believes he might go there. When you have the assurance of salvation, it will make Christianity something you will never let go of!
Do you want to be happy? Changed circumstances will certainly help, but a changed life is the only way to achieve joy, for it will make us like Christ.
