Happiness…Again
No doubt happiness is number one on the list of human wishes. People pursue happiness in a variety of ways, some more helpful than others. But the goal of all our efforts is a sense of well-being and fulfillment.
Recently I heard someone say that happiness is overrated. Too many monumental perplexities in our minds and intractable conflicts of our hearts get in the way. If we take the problems and uncertainties of life seriously how can happiness even be a possibility? Faced with this question, one of the characters in the movie “A New Life” said, “Happiness is one of the advantages of being a shallow person.”
I don’t accept the judgment that happiness is a prize reserved for the trivial minded. Rather happiness is a product of knowing God and accepting our proper place in the divine scheme. When we cease trying to be anything other than who God intends us to be we will be happy. Our unhappiness often comes when we take ourselves too seriously and fail to take God seriously enough.
Second-century Christian leader Clement of Alexandria once said, “The faithful person lives constantly with God. He is always serious and joyous: serious because he remembers God, joyous because he dreams of all the good things that God has given.” This serious joyfulness is the happiness that is ours by faith.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Craig