Pursuit of Happiness

Aug 12

*I want to make one quick distinction before beginning. When I refer to happiness in this post, I am speaking of the Biblical definition of happiness: true and lasting contentment and joy independent from one’s circumstances. This post is dedicated to Lucinda Clark (Señora), who lived this out to the end. She is now with the Lord she loved so much and has received her reward. Que Dios le bendiga.

Happiness is one of our most basic human needs - but it is also the most elusive and the most vague. Just as people hunger for food and thirst for water, there seems to be a heart-level desire for contentment. Now, this desire can be met by two extremes: those who make happiness life’s utmost goal, and those who see happiness as an evil to be avoided. These responses result in gluttonous pleasure-seekers who are never satisfied and legalistic masochists who see lack of joy as a virtue. However, though they are polar opposites, both these responses to the problem of happiness are wrong. And neither are ever fulfilled.

First, to respond to the latter of these groups, I would point out that nowhere in Scripture do we see happiness condemned as a sin. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Our God is a God of delight and pleasure. He created a world full of good things for our enjoyment. Even in Eden, Adam and Eve are offered all but one tree in the garden for their satisfaction.

James 1:17 says this: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

In his groundbreaking book, Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis argues, “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water” (Lewis). We are meant to desire good things. Happiness and the pursuit of it is not a sin.

However, many find themselves on the other end of the spectrum: seeking happiness as their end all be all. And this is where we see sin enter the picture - when we seek happiness apart from God, on our own terms, making an idol of happiness. Further down, Lewis continues: “Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it [our desires], but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing” (Lewis). Adam and Eve made this mistake when they ate from the Tree. And we make this mistake every day when we try to find true purpose and fulfillment outside of God and His will.

So this leaves us with the question - if we were made for joy and purpose, but aren’t meant to find it in this world, how then can we be fulfilled? Everyone is searching to fill this need - this emptiness. In fact, one of the most poignant realizations of this truth was in an interview with Tom Brady a couple years back.

When asked about the effects of his rapid success, Brady resonded “Why do I have three Super Bowl rings, and still think there's something greater out there for me? I mean, maybe a lot of people would say, "Hey man, this is what is." I reached my goal, my dream, my life. Me, I think: God, it's gotta be more than this. I mean this can't be what it's all cracked up to be. I mean I've done it. I'm 27. And what else is there for me?”

Brady puts words to something a lot of us experience - this realization that nothing in this world can truly fill us up. It’s as if there’s a hole in the bucket. No matter how full it is, it always ends up empty.

I think the reason behind this phenomenon is that this world - the material world - was never meant to satisfy us. The next experience - the next vacation - the next achievement - the next boyfriend or girlfriend - the next boat - the next house… they become like a drug, satisfying us for a second then leaving us craving more. Accumulating and pouring into ourselves will always - always - leave us more empty than before. Why? We were not made for this world.

C.S. Lewis once implored, “aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.”

The most joyful people are the ones who are aiming at heaven - pursuing what’s eternal and lasting. Jesus is a prime example of living this way.

In John 4, Jesus and his disciples are traveling to Galilee when, growing weary, Jesus stops to rest at a well near a Samaritan town. It was about midday. A woman from the town comes to draw water and Jesus stops her to ask for a drink. This leads to a discussion about “living water” (Jesus and his salvation), and the woman’s questionable history. When the woman realizes who it is she is talking to, and that she is offered forgiveness, she runs to town to tell the good news. The disciples return from their excursion into town to get food and are baffled to find him speaking to this woman. Nevertheless, always practical, they tell Jesus to eat. He responds, “I have food to eat that you do not know about” (John 4:32). Understadably confused, the disciples take this literally and ask themselves where he has gotten this mysterious sustenence. Jesus explains, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (John 4:34).

We can learn several lessons from this story.

First of all, though Jesus is weary, he takes the time to talk to this woman and to pour into her. It would be understandable, if, after traveling under the brutal midday sun, Jesus wanted to sit in silence. Yet, though he is on his way from giving to the people in Judea to minister to the people in Galilee, he takes time to care for this woman. Afterwards, you can hear the joy and the satisfaction in Jesus’s tone as he tells his disciples he already has food. He is more satisfied by doing the Father’s will than anything else.

Likewise, those who are most joyful and fulfilled are the ones who are doing the Father’s will. And what is the Father’s will? To “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39). And loving your neighbor as yourself means pouring out, dying to yourself, taking up your cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Now, Jesus lived this perfectly. He spent His thirty-three years here on earth pouring out and loving others - ultimately giving His very life. This was not easy. In fact, Jesus begged for there to be another way, agonized to the point of sweating blood. And yet Jesus, “for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2). Jesus found true fulfillment and joy in pouring out His life, despite its pain and shame.

John 15:13 doesn’t just refer to the moment of death, however. Laying down your life is something that can occur daily, without physically taking a bullet for someone. Laying down your life can be as simple as doing the dishes when you don’t feel like it - sitting with someone in pain when you don’t have the time or energy - humbly apologizing when you believe you’re right - giving up your dreams and desires to pour into the people in front of you. And then something mysterious happens. Though you may feel stretched, exhausted, poured out, empty - though you may have nothing left to give - you will find true fulfillment and joy. Why? Because when you let go of material things, and of your own personal ambitions, and find that you have nothing left but Christ - you will realize you never needed anything more. Proverbs 11:24-25 speaks to this paradox: “One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” There is something to being empty - leaving it all on the field - dying to yourself - only then can we be filled with Christ.

Now I want to clarify - this does not mean we don’t take care of ourselves. We don’t become martyrs for the sake of being martyrs. Even Jesus took time alone to rest and spend time with the Lord. This is not a literal letter-of-the-law command, but an overall spirit of openhandedness and self-denial. If we give from our own store of energy, we will quickly become bitter and resentful. Christ must first be our portion - our greatest joy and pleasure. Only then can we look at the things of this world and count them all as loss.

To the believer, I would ask you: who or what are you living for? What material thing has usurped Christ’s place in your heart, leaving you living for yourself? What is God’s mission for you right now? Who has God placed before you so that you may pour out and die for them?

To the unbeliever, I implore you: stop this fruitless pursuit of happiness. I can promise you, it will leave you empty in the end. Instead, repent of your sins and turn to the only One who can satisfy. He died for you that you may die to yourself and your sins. Submit to Him as Lord of your life - for then will you find joy.

If we have Christ and nothing else, we will never be empty. If we have everything else, but not Christ, we will never be full.

On the wall of my grandpa’s office are a couple lines of a poem. I’m attaching the entire thing at the bottom of this post because it beautifully sums up this upside-down, paradoxical life to which Jesus calls us.

Two little lines I heard one day,
Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart;

Only one life, twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat;