As we grow older, and hopefully wiser, we gather common sense and sound judgment and practical observations along the way. For instance, a $30 watch or a $300 watch both tell the same time. So, if you had to choose, what would your choice be based on? A practical observation is that a $30 bottle of wine or a $300 bottle of wine nets the same result. What would be practical about spending $300 for a bottle of wine? Whether a person lives in a 300 square foot house or a 3,000 quare foot house, a person’s loneliness is the same. Does a large house give a person true happiness?
There are many ideas of what makes a person happy and the benefits of being a happy person. The health industry claims that: happiness lowers the risk for cardiovascular disease, lowers blood pressure, enables better sleep, improves the diet, allows one to maintain a normal body weight through regular exercise and reduces stress. Motivators say that happiness is a rsullt of effort, but effort that’s directed toward meaningful goals, not necessarily the goal of being happy. Others say that happiness has also been linked to better decision-making and improved creativity. So, rather than success being the key to happiness, happiness could in fact, be the key to success. Some claim that happiness is that feeling that comes over a person when life is good, and one can’t help but smile, When people are successful, or safe, or lucky, they feel happiness. Aristotle has this view, “Happiness depends on ourselves.”
For some, the ultimate goal in life is to find happiness whether seen in fulfillment in work, contentment in relationships, or passion in hobbies. Everyone seeks happiness – whether consciously or subconsciously – in order to give meaning to life.
However, one day many people will realize that true happiness does not come from the material things in life or situations of the world or dependence on self. For a proper definition of true happiness that most people seem bent on finding, is we must go to the only trustworthy source – God’s Word. It says, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” (Psalm 144:15)
True happiness comes from within ~~
All of the things you receive in your life that give you true happiness are because you believe in God. We need to have our lives and minds overhauled, and to surrender to the One who is able to change us from the inside out. Jesus says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you…These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 1:9,11)
Joy goes beyond happiness. Joy is like true happiness on steroids. So rather than seek happiness, seek joy. Then, you will be able to smile and say, “The joy of the Lord is my strength.”