Happiness as an idol

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We all know the song ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams: “Because I’m happy….”. It is a very nice song. It sounds relaxed and just makes you feel happy. I like the song. And it reminds me of how much we like to strive for happiness. Happiness matters to us. We want to live happy lives and be happy. And when we experience happiness, we feel great.
But I have this feeling that our striving for happiness is about more than just feeling great. It looks like we have moved from simply wanting to feel happy, to having happiness as our lives’ goal. When I talk with children, I often see that they need things to be fun. Immediately. Constantly. Doing something that takes some energy, without it being fun is not seen as a nice thing to do. It is cool to win a soccer game, but all the training that is needed beforehand in order to become a good player, that is seen as a difficult thing to surmount.

I also see it in my own life. I want to be happy in my marriage. Have a happy life. But what happens when your wife experiences a burn-out or when your mom dies? It is not much fun to manage your family when your spouse is not able to do a lot of things because she is ill. Or when you lose someone precious to you. We suffer in moments like that. Life is not ‘happy’ in such periods.

Especially in times like that, I feel the tension of striving for happiness. And the pressure of the lie that if we are not happy, we’d better quit. The more I think about this, the more I see that it is the devil who wants us to believe that happiness is the goal of our lives. I have heard some justify this striving for happiness by saying that God wants us to be happy. I am not sure about that. Of course, when you see happiness in the way God sees it, it is true. ‘Happiness’ from God’s perspective means so infinitely more. It means living in peace with Him and with other people. A life of deep peace and inner rest.

Looking at happiness through God’s eyes helps us see our striving for happiness through different eyes. His eyes. This is how I have come to think that we have made happiness an idol. The devil would love for us to believe in happiness as the final goal.

“If your marriage does not make you happy, you can get a divorce. After all, you deserve to be happy.” “Is taking care of a sick friend a lot of work and not much fun? Just quit, leave this person and let him take care of himself.” On top of it, when we really act like this, and then realize that that does not make us happy either, we often choose to complain to God. Or we wrongly conclude that life is not valuable, not worth living. And if we believe that lie, we end up missing the only key to true, everlasting happiness.

Jesus did not come to this earth to be happy. He came to suffer and to conquer death. For us. For me. For you. Happiness as a goal in itself is a lie that the devil would like for us to believe. But when we choose to focus on living in peace with God and our neighbors, God will let us experience real happiness: His peace. This is what will really make us happy: God’s true and lasting peace. This is also the message we want to remind ourselves of and share with all those who are searching for some sort of happiness in this world as they visit one of the Jesus.net websites: You can find true and real happiness. It is found in peace with God and peace in God. Real and fully satisfying peace in God, no matter what your circumstances may be.

Now that is the goal of our lives!

Eric-handtekening-witteachtergrond

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