Redefining Happiness
 

by Steven Harper

   

Within the past few years, we have witnessed a great push within our society for ‘rights’ to do just about anything. Especially within the last week, we have seen joy expressed that the latest Supreme Court decision will pave the way for same-sex marriages nationwide, with many using shallow slogans to express their desire that ‘whatever makes someone happy’ should not be forbidden. “After all,” some are saying, “love is love!”

Forty years ago, some were calling this The ‘Me’ Generation, with a crop of young folks [and some not-so-young] coming up who believed they had every right in the world to do whatever they wanted, without restriction and without what they saw as burdensome and intrusive laws that ‘controlled’ what they could and could not do. Popular phrases that epitomized the attitudes of that time were ‘If it feels good, do it’ and ‘Looking out for number one’; both demonstrated a self-centered look on life and it seems like subsequent generations have gotten no less selfish.

Mankind has a knack for persistently pursuing the things that he falsely believes will bring happiness - even when past generations and past efforts have failed [and failed miserably] to achieve that end. It seems to not matter that history records those failures for us to learn from them, for someone will ignore history and inevitably try again or try something else, seeking happiness in a place it cannot be found. Often, the problem is that we just don’t want to admit those things will not bring true happiness, nor will we admit the truth of what God has said brings true happiness.

Any parent will tell you it is difficult to watch as one of your children ‘hear’ what you say and then go and do whatever they want to do. It could be decisions about their financial choices, their education, where to live, what career to seek, or even their boyfriend or girlfriend; but, like a lot of young folks do, they ‘hear’ what is said, but don’t really listen, and they find out only too late that what their parents told them really wasn’t so dumb, after all. Some of those things will not bring any physical harm to them, but some of those things do, and it brings us no joy and does not ease the pain to just be able to say, “I told you so.”

It is most trying when spiritual instruction is not valued or simply ignored altogether, and when the child rejects God’s ways for the ways of the world, thinking God’s ways are ‘too strict’ and the worldly ways will bring true happiness. Parents point to others as real-life examples of poor choices or even use personal examples to show that happiness is rarely, if ever, found where most people seek it, but the devil’s deceptions are enticing and many young people have fallen prey to the lure of his promise of pleasure, joy, and ‘happiness’ and walk the wide, smooth road that leads to destruction (cf. Matt. 7:13).

Just like the advertising for alcohol that we see on television, what is ‘advertised’ by the devil and his helpers is the ‘fun’ and the ‘excitement’ and the acceptance and popularity one gains from society when you join with them in their pursuit of fleshly pleasures. Just like the airbrushed women who wear next-to-nothing [or, nothing at all] in pornographic images, what is promised is perfect beauty and pleasures of the flesh and no one to tell you it’s wrong.

What the alcohol advertising doesn’t show is the homeless man on the street who got there because he became an alcoholic, and how all the help his family and others could offer was not accepted, or could not bring him back. The ads never show the homes destroyed by the fathers and mothers who become drunks and who also then physically and mentally abuse their spouses and/or their children. The ads do not show the horrific automobile accidents where lives have been taken because someone chose to drink and drive. The ads do not talk about the withdrawal symptoms, the liver disease, and impaired judgment. The ads show all the happiness and very little of reality.

What the propagators of pornography and ‘free sex’ do not show is the broken homes and destroyed lives that result of the addiction to it, the diseases it brings, and the emotional scars that sometimes last a lifetime. The pornographers want you to believe it is your ‘right’ to view whatever you want, but will not tell you about those who have gone so far into the filth that they start acting out their fantasies and desires on others who are unwilling participants. They don’t tell you about the serial killer who admitted his raping and torture and killing began with pornography.

And we are told this is ‘happiness.’

There once was a man who sought happiness as many today still do; he said to himself, “Come now, I will test you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure” (Eccl. 2:1). In that pursuit of pleasure, he said he “searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine” (Eccl. 2:3), and “made my works great,…built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards…made myself gardens and orchards,…planted all kinds of fruit trees in them…made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the grove…acquired male and female servants, and had servants born in my house…I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were…before me…gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasures of kings and of the provinces…acquired male and female singers, the delights of the sons of men, and musical instruments of all kinds” (Eccl. 2:4-8). But was he happy?

This same man would say of this pursuit of happiness in worldly offerings, “Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” (Eccl. 2:11). After this vain pursuit and after he had tried everything there was to try, he said, “Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Eccl. 2:17). This very wise man concluded the pursuit of happiness in worldly offerings was useless - it could not be found in those things!

Fortunately, for him and for us, he did find where true happiness was. In the end, he would say, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all” (Eccl. 12:13). True happiness would not be found in the pursuit [or attainment] of material, fleshly, worldly things, but in the service of our Creator!

Other men have come to this same conclusion, without going through the wasted time, money, and energy. Some have written, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” (Psa. 144:15), and, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psa. 146:5), and, “Whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he” (Prov. 16:20). We can argue about the truthfulness of these words until time ends, but let us consider that they were inspired by the God who does not lie. They are true, whether we ever deem them true or not.

Does God want you to be happy? Sure, He does! But in your pursuit of happiness, make sure that what you are seeking is not, in reality, a lie. All the things this world offers may bring temporary ‘happiness’ [if any at all], but the results will be eternal misery.

Seek true happiness in God.  

 

 

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