HAPPY?
GOD MADE YOU TO BE HAPPY!
I Mean Really, Truly Happy.
It’s the reason we are all intuitively try to fill ourselves up with fun experiences and being with people who make us happy. It’s why we try to find our calling or our “sweet spot” in life and live there, because we long to be happy. It’s as clear the smile that could be on your face.
So Why Are We So Sad?
Why do we seem to search and search for happiness only to be momentarily satisfied until the stuff gets old, we get bored, or life gets hard?
Remember, God made you. You were not an accident of nature nor did you have to exist. Rather, you exist literally at the pleasure of God.
"WORTHY ARE YOU, OUR LORD AND GOD, TO RECEIVE GLORY AND HONOR AND POWER, FOR YOU CREATED ALL THINGS, AND BY YOUR WILL THEY EXISTED AND WERE CREATED." — Revelation 4:11
He made you so you could live in relationship to Him. In a very real sense, you were created by God for God.
"FOR FROM HIM AND THROUGH HIM AND TO HIM ARE ALL THINGS. TO HIM BE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN." — Romans 11:36So that means that you will always be happiest when you are rightly connected to Him.
HOWEVER…
If you were made by Him and for Him, then you will always be discontented if you aren't properly connected to Him. And that is why we are sad, because we are disconnected from Him. Discontentment comes from disconnection.
A lamp was made to shine. A ball was made to bounce. A deer was made to run. A plane was made to fly. If any of these don't fulfill their function then something is wrong, they are disconnected from their purpose.
The Bible teaches that sin has disconnected us from our purpose. We were made to glorify God.
"EVERYONE WHO IS CALLED BY MY NAME, WHOM I CREATED FOR MY GLORY, WHOM I FORMED AND MADE." — Isaiah 43:7"FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD," — Romans 3-23And like Romans 3:23 says, we are all guilty of sin. No one is perfect.
"AS IT IS WRITTEN: "NONE IS RIGHTEOUS NO, NOT ONE," - Romans 3:10Yes we may know the right things to do, and we may try to do them, but the reality is at some point we will fall.
"SO WHOEVER KNOWS THE RIGHT THING TO DO AND FAILS TO DO IT, FOR HIM IT IS SIN." — James 4:17Sin is defined in the Bible as our thoughts or conduct falling short of God's glorious character. It's like an arrow that misses its target. We were made to hit the mark of God's character by our thoughts or conduct, and sin is what we call our failure to do so.So our sin is the culprit for our unhappiness because it has displaced us from fulfilling God's purpose for us. That's why we are unhappy. It's also why we try to chase counterfeits and create our own fantasies in an effort to fill the unhappy void. And it works — but only for a while. Invariably, all of our quests at finding happiness end up in dead ends. We are like people trying to quench our thirst with something it was never meant to be quenched with. God said as much:
"FOR MY PEOPLE HAVE COMMITTED TWO EVILS: THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS, AND HEWED OUT CISTERNS FOR THEMSELVES, BROKEN CISTERNS THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER." - Jeremiah 2:13
So How Do we Get Happy Again?
Is There Hope For Happiness?
The Answer Is Unequivocally, YES!
The Bible tells us:
"HOW BEAUTIFUL UPON THE MOUNTAINS ARE THE FEET OF HIM WHO BRINGS GOOD NEWS, WHO PUBLISHES PEACE, WHO BRINGS GOOD NEWS OF HAPPINESS, WHO PUBLISHES SALVATION, WHO SAYS TO ZION, "YOUR GOD REIGNS." - Isaiah 52:7There is "good news of happiness!" And here it is: "YOUR GOD REIGNS!"
That means that the best news you can hear is that God, your creator, is in charge, and He wants to be the king of your life. He wants to give you the best life you could ever hope for which is one with Him as your ruler and Lord. He wants you to live and serve at His pleasure for His purpose as your creator.
But how can any of us do that knowing that we have sinned, that we do sin, and that we will sin? The answer is found in Jesus. He is the good news maker who makes the good news possible.
A Few Facts About Jesus Are Important To Know:
Jesus is God the Son in the flesh
"AND THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US, AND WE HAVE SEEN HIS GLORY, GLORY AS OF THE ONLY SON FROM THE FATHER, FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH." - John 1:14"FOR IN HIM THE WHOLE FULLNESS OF DEITY DWELLS BODILY," - Colossians 2:9Jesus offers you new life in His kingdom
"BUT HE SAID, I MUST PREACH THE GOOD NEWS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO THE OTHER TOWNS ALSO, BECAUSE THAT IS WHY I WAS SENT.'" - Luke 4:43The life that Christ alone gives is available to you because God dealt with your sin that makes you miserable and alienates you from Him by sending His Son, Jesus, to take your sin and put it to death with Himself on the cross
"WE KNOW THAT OUR OLD SELF WAS CRUCIFIED WITH HIM IN ORDER THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE BROUGHT TO NOTHING, SO THAT WE WOULD NO LONGER BE ENSLAVED TO SIN." - Romans 6:6When He did that, He offered you His happy, righteous life in exchange for your miserable sinfulness
"FOR OUR SAKE HE MADE HIM TO BE SIN WHO KNEW NO SIN, SO THAT IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD." - 2 Corinthians 5:21Now you can experience the forgiveness of your sins and live in His kingdom
"HE HAS DELIVERED US FROM THE DOMAIN OF DARKNESS AND TRANSFERRED US TO THE KINGDOM OF HIS BELOVED SON, IN WHOM WE HAVE REDEMPTION, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS." - Colossians 1:13-14In that kingdom you get to have new life with Him because he rose from the dead, forever conquering the misery of death. He allows you to join Him in eternal happiness
"JESUS SAID TO HER, 'I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN ME, THOUGH HE DIE, YET SHALL HE LIVE,'" - John 11:25
Will you receive the eternal happiness Jesus came to give? You receive it by transferring your trust from yourself to Him and in doing that you believe that He alone rescues you from the misery of sin and gives you life with Him forever.
The Bible tells us in John 1:12-13
"...TO ALL WHO DID RECEIVE HIM, WHO BELIEVED IN HIS NAME, HE GAVE THE RIGHT TO BECOME CHILDREN OF GOD, 13 WHO WERE BORN, NOT OF BLOOD NOR OF THE WILL OF THE FLESH NOR OF THE WILL OF MAN, BUT OF GOD."