Religion has attempted to answer that question: Christianity says they have that answer, Buddhism holds claim to it as well. The New Age movement, Scientology, Mormonism, the Jehovah Witnesses, Islam, even Atheism and Satenism all say that their way is the way to true happiness.
Many will argue that religion isn’t the answer…success, money, fame, seclusion, family, self-sufficiency, exercise all have their stake in the argument as well…you too can be happy if you…fill in the blank. I’ve, in the past, bought into the Protestant Christianity argument that says the only way to true happiness in this world is by giving your life to the Biblical Christ. As a man in full time ministry, seeing what I saw, that argument was proven out to me over and over. A man walks in to the counseling session with a problem, he’s unhappy, addicted, a wreck…I tell him, give your life to Christ and you, like me, will find happiness. I tell him that I found happiness in this world through Christianity and you too will find it if you simply do what I did and submit your life to Jesus. And I found that without fail, those who did fully commit to Christ did find success, they did find happiness…so by pure circumstance…what I was teaching was in my mind true, it made sense…Jesus is the only way to true happiness in this world. I was convinced that in the world everyone who looked happy was faking it…they couldn’t truly be happy, they were heathens, inside of their heart was a hole in the shape of Jesus and they (the happy-looking fake people) were filling that hole with other things, but were not being satisfied…that’s what I was taught…therefore that’s what I taught.
Then I left ministry for a job in the world and, in the world, I began to meet people who had not given their life to Christ, who didn’t need to go to church for counseling, who were actually quite happy. They aren’t addicted to anything, they are happily married, have good jobs, nice homes, good children...all their needs are being taken care of and they don’t even go to church. I learned quickly that there are people in this world who don’t need my counsel to be happy as they define happiness. Why do you think that is? Maybe Christianity doesn’t hold a monopoly on happiness?
This thought began to fester in my head a short while ago as I was watching a PBS special where a very prominent Buddhist leader was lecturing about Buddhism. He looked very happy and claimed he was happy. He said he was “enlightened” and had found “peace” through meditation practices. Then it hit me like a ton of feathers… “I bet he is happy,” I said to myself… “I don’t think he is lying about his inner peace.” So I started to re-think this whole “where does happiness come from” theory I had been working under my whole adult life. Maybe there are multiple ways to find happiness in this life…maybe I just found one of those ways. Could the old saying “it doesn’t matter what you believe just as long as you believe” be true?
These thoughts continued to get legs in my mind as I started to look more deeply at some people who appear to be happy. Bill Gates looks happy. He’s got 60 billion in the bank, he’s quite a generous philanthropist, and appears to be happily married. Hugh Hefner seems happy. He’s living life in direct opposition to God and now in his 70’s, appears to have a pretty good life going for himself…if that’s what he wants to do then he seems happy doing it. I have non-Christian friends who are for all intents and purposes happier in their life than some of my Christian friends. Some of my Christian friends are miserable, they can’t make ends meet financially, they give and give of their time and money with no apparent earthly reward, they are stuck in their singleness, wanting desperately to get married and they, quite frankly, hate their jobs…this isn’t all my friends…but it is a good portion of them…
So what’s the deal here? Is Christianity the path to happiness? Are we “Kings Kids” as the televangelist tells us or are we just like everyone else in this world…happy at times… at other times, disappointed …for the most part just barely making it through life?
Yes, it’s true…sometimes Christians are not happy as the world defines happiness. Biblically this is true as well: Jeremiah’s nickname was the “weeping prophet.” Hosea had a miserable life. Joshua and Caleb, who didn’t complain and did believe, had to walk forty years in the desert along side the complaining, unbelieving nation of Israel. Do you think Joseph, Daniel and Paul were ecstatic to be thrown into prison every couple of years? How about John being boiled in oil without dying and then being banished to the island of Patmos…oh, the joy!
I say these things to make a point…we in Christianity have watered down the message of Christ so much that the pursuit of happiness, not the pursuit of Christ, has become our main objective. I’m willing to bet that some of you reading this column were surprised, if not insulted by my statement that Christianity is not the only way to happiness. This insulted you because you think like I did for years that happiness and prosperity are the main objective of Christianity. This thinking is imbedded in our noggin’ because when you go into most any church these days all you’ll hear are messages from the pulpit that are focused on finding our purpose, getting the best from life, positive thinking and money management. Turn the television to TBN and you’ll find every mega-church pastor in the country talking about having a positive self image, taking claim of your status as a child of God and how giving to the church will force God to give back to you ten fold…you’ll be rich! It’s all about us and our happiness.
But the message of Christ is not “pursue happiness” it’s “pursue Christ”…it’s not “you can be happy in this world” it’s “you are not of this world.” We need to re-prioritize our message because our current message is leading many people to blame God for their unhappiness and to seek happiness in the world. Our idol in Christianity today has become prosperity and happiness and teaching people to seek those things will lead them down the broad path that leads to destruction not the narrow path that leads to God.
How do we change this? We need to move away from preaching topical, easy to package, Mp3 packet sermonettes and dig deep into the Word of God. We need to, like Nehemiah, open the Word and read it, leaving nothing out, no stone unturned. We need to seek out pastors and leaders who care more about being holy than they care about being relevant. You, individually, need to stop pursuing happiness and start pursuing Christ, understanding and accepting that if that doesn’t lead to prosperity as you define prosperity…that’s ok…as long as it leads to Him.
Deepak Chopra probably does have an inner tranquility. Bill Gates certainly doesn’t have to worry about finances as I tend to do at times. Hugh Hefner may very well laugh himself to sleep every night. I’ll even wager that Marilyn Manson lives a pretty content life (as he defines content). But for each of them, unless they give their life to Christ, their happiness will soon end while mine will continue through eternity.
Jesus tells in John 14: “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.”
You see, the peace that I have is based on the fact that I know that Jesus is preparing a place for me in His future kingdom. The happiness I have today transcends the ups and downs that life can sometimes throw at us because I have faith that in the very near future Jesus is going to come back for me, take me out of this world and into His presence. The joy I experience daily is not based on my circumstance it is based on my confidence that the one whom I pursue, Jesus, is completely in control of my life, has my best interest in mind and will beyond a shadow of a doubt lead me to a place that is better then the miserable world I see everyday.
That joy stays with me eternally, that peace will not pass away, that happiness will not end when my body dies. There are many paths to happiness on earth, but only one path to eternal happiness…please, please, please…pursue that one path…pursue Christ!
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