TRUE HAPPINESS

The last time you looked in the mirror, did you see a happy face, not on the surface but deep, down within? Happiness is what all of us strive for and few really find. Millions daily look for true happiness in a bottle, in pill or needles, in moral permissiveness or thrill seeking. Solomon tried all that was available to him and that was considerable. All wealth was at his disposal since he was the king of the land.

His conclusion was that all the loose and raucous behavior and impure living was “vanity” and troubling to the soul, “vexation” to his spirit. Real happiness cannot be found in the surface stuff of life. It is to be found deep within one’s being, in the heart of him, his soul.

It is not to be the object sought, but, rather, the by-product of real soul-satisfaction. Those things are not happiness which leave you in a drunken stupor with a headache, with a sense of guilt, that leave you in a coma or in poor health, or, on a cold steel table in a morgue.

You don’t agree? Then, how come you are not happy?

Or is that you have found the true source of happiness but you don’t feel that we should try to persuade others. But we would not be very conderned friends if we stood by while others chose that path, for it deads to destruction. Jesus said so.

The Bible says, in Psalm 1, ”Blessed [happy] is the man” who does not seek to listen to or act like the ”unngodly [wicked]”.

That is the person who considers God, the church, the Bible and the Christian as foolish and he chooses his own way of life, conduct and standards. He pretends self-sufficiency but it can't last. It doesn't satisfy his soul or his need for inner-peace. He pretends there is no God and imagines himself absolved from any responsibility because he doesn’t believe. That’s as intelligent as me walking out into the street in front of an oncoming bus and deciding I’m in no danger because I don’t believe in buses. My lack of faith in the motor coach does nothing to preclude the inevitable consequences of reality when the bus eliminates my skepticism (for good).

Aptly and accurately, Psalm 14:1 calls him a fool because he has convinced himself that there is no God. They say there are no athiests in fox holes. Neither are there any in hell, however it is too late to repent at that point. Better the fool sees his foolishness, here and now and forsakes his foolish life style and finds peace in his soul.

The one who is truly happy within, satisfied with life and at peace in his soul is one who has found peace with God through the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the “Prince of Peace” Who sovereignly grants peace, ”having made peace through his cross(Ephesians 2:15-16).

Happiness which gives peace gives hope, also. The apostle Paul wrote to the people of one church so they could know God personally and learn from Him;

”that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the fiches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places [literally, in the heavenlies]” (Ephesians 1:18-20).

One who trusts his or her life to Jesus Christ finds this kind of power (resurrection power) to live and love life, to have real happiness and a solid hope for eternity. He is like a strong tree, the Psalmist wrote, which is growing by a river, constantly feeding, continually bearing good fruit and is immovable (Psalm 1:3-4).

Find your happiness and spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ. May God grant you true happiness!

Back to Minute Messages Index