How to Find the Pathway to Happiness
Share
The first time my husband handed me our very first baby girl, my heart swelled so much my eyes overflowed. The second time he handed me our second baby girl, with bright blue twinkling eyes, happy tears - as she would call them today - made deep tracks down my cheeks. I remember all of the first steps, words, hugs, and birthdays – all of the laughter and all of the love. Happiness happens. Unlike Biblical joy, happiness comes and goes, but it does assuredly come again. Jesus said we would have trouble in this world (John 16:33), but He did not say our lives would be void of happiness.
A cheerful heart spreads like wildfire to everyone surrounding us! But a crushed spirit often hides. When we are crushed, the temptation to isolate ourselves is great. It’s a weapon of the enemy. Lies and isolation. His two main methods of attack haven’t changed over the centuries. He just uses what we’ve got now to lead us down the same hopeless trails. Crushed infers utter defeat, meaning to press or squeeze with a force that destroys and deforms. But cheerful means to be in good spirits, pleasant, bright, hearty or ungrudging.
Joy differs from happiness in that it cannot be stolen and does not fade. The brightness of happiness is a product of joy. It’s being strengthened and sanctified by the Holy Spirit as we live our lives in pursuit of Christ Jesus. We are sealed, and the Lord is our shield, so that when happiness fades, joy fends off any spiraling thoughts threatening to lead us down a side-trail of hopelessness.
“God wants us to be happy!” Robert Hamphsire explains. “As paradoxical as it sounds, if you want to find happiness for yourself, then happiness cannot be your goal. Instead, happiness (the feeling) and joy (the state of being) comes as a by-product of selflessness.” The enemy cannot touch the joy we have in Jesus. He is our Joy.
Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Rejoice means to be glad; take delight. The original Greek translation of the word rejoice adds to be well, thrive, to the definition. If we return to Psalms 1, delight means “a high degree of pleasure of enjoyment; joy; rapture.” Rapture is ecstatic joy or delight. Ecstatic is an intense, overpowering emotion. And the original Greek translation of the word delight adds desire and longing.
The richness of these word choices in the two Scriptures is not coincidental. Paul meant to convey a feeling of rejoicing, in good times and bad. The word joy can be heard in the word rejoice. Scripture tells us the path to exit doldrum feelings is to rejoice in the Lord, regardless of our circumstances. It activates the joy living in us! “Seeking guidance for life in God’s law rather than in the deliberations of the wicked,” the NIV Study Bible explains of Psalm 1:2, “meditates on his law.”
The path to happiness is meditating on God’s Word. Jesus is the Living Word of God. John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). In Christ, we will experience so many happy moments. God wants us to be happy. He has plans for us which are more than we can ask for or imagine. But the sustaining joy of Jesus is more powerful than any wave of happiness. It’s supernatural, it’s amazing – it’s the glory of God taking up residence in our very hearts.
More from this author
The Power of Quiet Moments
Whatever God Wills, Will Be
Trusting God through Every Fresh Start and Restart
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/monkeybusinessimages
