The details may vary, but the basic story is the same, and becoming more common with the passing of time. These are tragic episodes that utterly baffle the minds of family and long-time friends.<\/p>\n
A Christian man, very active in the church, meets a woman in a store in which he occasionally shops. The lady is quite cordial and they strike up a friendship. Eventually, they exchange e-mail addresses and begin a correspondence. The messages ultimately become passionate.<\/p>\n
One day the man informs his wife that he is leaving her. He claims to have found the \u201clove of his life,\u201d and has come to savor a \u201chappiness\u201d that has been unrivaled in previous years. He believes God wants him to be \u201chappy,\u201d and this new relationship seems to be the epitome of his dreams. The immorality is \u201cjustified\u201d with the rationalism of \u201chappiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Christian young lady of college age increasingly becomes discontented with her family and church life. She complains that she is restless with her environment. She cannot precisely identify the problem, but says she is just \u201cunhappy\u201d and feels that she must explore various avenues of life in her quest for fulfillment. After all, she says, \u201cGod wants me to be happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so she gathers a few belongings and migrates to a notoriously evil, metropolitan city. The last anyone hears of her, she is working in some den of debauchery. Eventually she vanishes altogether into a black hole of reckless abandon, never to be heard from again. Did she find the \u201chappiness\u201d she so irresponsibly sought? One can confidently state that she did not.<\/p>\n
The foregoing actual case histories (though slightly altered in some details) are not unlike the narrative in Luke 15, in Christ\u2019s parable of the \u201cprodigal son.\u201d Gathering his prematurely derived inheritance, a young man left a loving father and journeyed into a \u201cfar country.\u201d In this story, the \u201cfather\u201d represents God, while the profligate reflects the \u201cfree-spirited\u201d rebel who is ever in that illusive quest for \u201chappiness.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the informed Bible student knows, he ended up foraging for his food amongst a herd of pigs. In his new neighborhood of stench, there was no \u201chappiness.\u201d It was only when he \u201ccame to himself,\u201d returned to his father, that genuine contentment settled into his heart.<\/p>\n
What vast multitudes do not realize is this: the Lord\u2019s definition of \u201chappiness\u201d is not that of the common human perception of this much-sought, highly elusive emotion. In the divine \u201clexicon\u201d of emotions, \u201chappiness\u201d is not grounded in physical and material goals; and most especially not in that which is in clear violation of the Lord\u2019s expressed Will.<\/p>\n
The Moses Case<\/p>\n
One needs to remind himself occasionally of that passage which describes the temperament of the noble Moses.
\n \u201cBy faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh\u2019s daughter; choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward\u201d (Hebrews 11:23-26).
\nThe truth is, Moses forsook \u201cenjoyment\u201d and \u201cpleasure\u201d in order to secure real \u201chappiness.\u201d How wonderful it would be if everyone could discover his secret.<\/p>\n
The companion terms, \u201cenjoy\u201d and \u201cpleasure,\u201d are not without importance. There is a measure of these sensations in many pursuits of life \u2014 even in varieties of sin. But \u201cenjoyment\/pleasure\u201d is not \u201chappiness\u201d in the ultimate sense of the latter term. The Lord God is not going to reward drunkenness, drug abuse, and fornication with \u201chappiness.\u201d What an insulting view of the Creator this is!<\/p>\n
Divine Happiness<\/p>\n
When we moderns think about \u201chappiness,\u201d we are extremely casual in the manner in which we employ the term. One may be \u201chappy\u201d for his daughter\u2019s forthcoming marriage. Another is \u201chappy\u201d with his new automobile. Many are ecstatically \u201chappy\u201d when their favorite sports team wins. The list of these frivolously \u201chappy\u201d attainments is endless. Generally, the adjective is associated with some of the most mundane experiences of human existence. Little wonder so many souls are \u201cunhappy.\u201d They don\u2019t even know what happiness is!<\/p>\n
The term \u201chappy\u201d is found approximately 28 times in the English Bible (KJV; ASV). A survey of those texts reveals that happiness, as viewed by the Creator, always has to do with a spiritual exercise. It is a service to God that embodies an eternal hope.<\/p>\n
The common Hebrew term is asre . It frequently is used as an interjection of elation, as in: \u201cOh, the blessedness of,\u201d or \u201cHow happy, truly happy is he …\u201d<\/p>\n
The expression is clustered among such texts as these: \u201chappy is the people whose God is Jehovah\u201d (Psalm 144:15). Happy is the person whose \u201chope is in Jehovah his God\u201d (Psalm 146:5). Happy is the one who seeks and embraces true wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 3:13). Happy is he who has a healthy respect for [not slavish fear of] God\u2019s expectations; on the contrary, the one who hardens his heart falls into mischief (Proverbs 28:14). \u201cHappy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers; but his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and on his law he meditates day and night\u201d (Psalm 1:1-2).<\/p>\n
In his book, Mere Christianity , British philosopher C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) observed that it is a futile exercise to seek happiness apart from God. Man has been \u201cdesigned\u201d to find his purpose, indeed his happiness, only in his Creator. In fact, Lewis insists, \u201cGod cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing\u201d (54). We were made to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7), and apart from that thrilling enterprise, there is no real contentment in human existence.<\/p>\n
A New Testament Portrait<\/p>\n
In the New Testament, a term that conveys the idea of happiness is makarios , usually rendered \u201cblessed.\u201d The word is found about 50 times in the New Testament documents; it dominates the early portion of Christ\u2019s \u201csermon on the mount,\u201d and is found significantly in the book of Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7,14).<\/p>\n
Scottish scholar, William Barclay, has provided a most interesting study of this word (I.89). He says that makarios \u201cdescribes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and the changes of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
By way of contrast, mere human \u201chappiness\u201d reveals its own character. The component \u201chap\u201d suggests \u201cchance.\u201d Happiness, as we commonly evaluate the term, is that which depends upon the vicissitudes of life. Happiness changes with one\u2019s circumstances; today one may be happy, but tomorrow he will be forlorn.<\/p>\n
At the commencement of his renowned \u201cSermon on the Mount\u201d (Matthew 5:3-12), Jesus taught that the truly \u201cblessed\u201d (happy) are those who acknowledge they are spiritual paupers without God, who weep over their sins, thus seeking Heaven\u2019s pardon.<\/p>\n
The happy are those who meekly submit themselves to divine control, who incessantly hunger and thirst for the spiritual righteousness that truly satisfies.<\/p>\n
They lovingly extend mercy to others, just as they have received it from the Lord. They happily maintain pure (unmixed) motives that are focused upon God; they strive to live at peace with their Maker and others.<\/p>\n
These are so spiritually dedicated that even persecution cannot extinguish their joy. One cannot but think of Paul and Silas, singing praise\/prayer to God \u2014 even with shredded, bloody backs in a Philippian dungeon (Acts 16:23-25).<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
How very foolish we are when we allow ourselves to be enticed from godliness by the temporal and exceedingly shallow emotions of passing mirages that will prove to be nothing more than cruel illusions in the eternal order of things.<\/p>\n
As devout Christians, we need to pray that we enter not into such temptations (Luke 22:40). In reality, they are far more common than we realize, and are becoming more so in an increasingly crass world.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
References:<\/p>\n
Barclay, William (1975), The Gospel of Matthew \u2013 Vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press).<\/p>\n
Lewis, C.S. (1975), Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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