Happiness...many, many questions????

Do you know people who just seem to never be happy with anyone or anything? Please do not ask them how they are feeling because you may get more of an answer than you were bargaining for! Are they capable of being satisfied and happy?

What is happiness? What REALLY is happiness? Situations around me right now have brought this question to mind. The dictionary defines happiness as "the quality or state of being happy" or "good fortune; pleasure; contentment; joy". (I still stand by the fact that my Dad wrote the dictionary no matter what Beth says)

Happiness is an emotion but what causes that emotion to manifest itself? We see people laugh and smile and appear to be "happy" in life but are they really? It seems to me that true and lasting happiness always comes from within. Isn't that what most of us really want? Just to be happy and content. Oh we have many different goals to pursue that we think will make us truly happy. Some people think that money will make them happy, or that big cars, fancy houses, jewelry, etc. will make them happy. I'm guilty of thinking similar things and getting sidetracked thinking "if I only had a million dollars I would be happy" or "if I only was able to stay home and not work my life would not be as stressful and I would be happier". My immediate thought is if I could just go to the beach for a couple of weeks I would be sooooo happy! (I still think that might really work....or at least put me on my way! :) Unfortuntely, this thought process, prompted by Satan, deceives us into believing that "things" and "people" make us happy. I would argue that this is very far from the truth.

True happiness is from within. God talks about being happy in the Bible. In Psalms 41:1, Happy are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble. In Proberbs 14:21, Those who despise their neighbors are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor. Can we derive from these scriptures that what WE HAVE does not actually make us happy.... is it in reality what we give to others that contributes to our happiness?

We cannot place our happiness in someone else's hands. We are in control of our own happiness. It is the choices that we make in life that determines our future happiness. Ultimately, without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ one cannot be truly happy. Jesus told the parable of the rich man who was happy in his earthly life and suddenly dies to find that earthly happiness was only temporary. He had no eternal happiness because he did not have Christ in his life. Surely Jesus implies that true happiness is not to be found in earthly treasures.

I have had plenty of times in my life where I felt I wasn't happy or things could be better, etc. When I look back, I understand that these were times in my life where my focus was not on Jesus Christ. My focus was on earthly things and earthly people. I was not following God's will for my life.

Why talk about happiness? So many people are unhappy because of circumstances in their life. The choices they have made are affecting that happiness as well as others happiness. They are looking in all the wrong places for this emotion and blaming others when they cannot find it. Lives are being destroyed, homes are being destroyed, marriages are failing all in the name of happiness...."You do not make me happy"....."I am not happy with you"....."When I am in school I am not happy".....these are nothing more than bogus statements that satan places in our minds to distract us from the truth and deceive us.

God does not command us to be happy. He does, however, command us to be holy. I think there is a coorelation between happiness and holiness. We have been commanded to be set apart by God for a relationship with him and to serve him. As holy people we are to live holy lives. Living holier lives brings greater joy. It keeps us from seeking momentary pleasures that end up destroying our true deeper joy.

I am not saying that we always get to choose our own happiness. Although we have more responsibility in this area than we think. God calls us to holinesss and tells us that true happiness is to be found through holy living.

So does God want us to be happy? Of course he does. But the way to happiness isnt found in trying to be happy. It is actually found in hearing the call of God to be holy just as he is holy.

Sorry for the rambling. This is really something that affects us all. So many people around us are battling depression, struggling with feelings of loneliness, emptiness, no direction in life, etc. They are wasting time looking for happiness when it is freely offered to them if they will only look in the right place and choose to accept it.

Are you truly happy? What is it that is making you happy?