Do You Want Happiness?
Do You Want Happiness?
Suppose you were asked directly, “Do you want happiness?” by someone like Jesus who you know has the power to grant you your wish, what would be your answer? Would you say, “No, thank you, I have it already!” or would you quickly say, “Oh Yes! Thank you, I most certainly do!”? If your answer would be the second response or something along that line, I am inviting you to consider a few things seriously.
If you are not perfectly happy now, why are you not? The Bible provides an answer, in one word, Sin! The root of sin is selfishness, which leads to rebellion against God – which is ultimately what sin is. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4) – that is, disobedience to what God says. Rebellion in heart ultimately manifests itself in disobedience to God’s instructions.
God is love! His instructions are not for His sake. They are for our sake – to provide for our happiness. Selfishness creates unhappiness for others and hence unhappiness for all. Happiness is possible in a continuous sustainable way only if selfishness is eliminated.
God’s plan is to eliminate selfishness. The plan has the following elements:
- He will change our hearts and minds by showing us what it is like to love and be unselfish continuously and to have everyone else around us being similarly loving and unselfish – that revelation comes to us by an invitation to look at the life of Jesus, His only begotten Son. Imagine if you were loving and kind as Jesus was, in His life on earth, (of course He continues to be and has always been that way – which is why He lived like that here) and everybody around you was similarly loving, kind and unselfish! No one would hurt anybody! Nobody would be insensitive as to be trampling upon others in any ambitious attempt to get ahead. Everyone would care about everybody else! This is the recipe for lasting happiness!
- He will cause sin and selfishness to be destroyed by bringing it all together in one space and circumstance where it will be destroyed. Fire will not only destroy the sinful and selfish (including Satan and his angels) but it will also purify the environment in preparation for the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.
- God will create a new heaven and a new earth and place those who have accepted Him and His principle of love to live there in peace and happiness forever. The location (or space) where sin and selfishness will be destroyed is right here on this earth ( 20:4-15). Some people think that this old earth will continue indefinitely with improvements in human relations and protection of the environment. But the old earth will not continue as it is to be replaced by a new. Those who submit to God and His superior wisdom, as reflected in His law of love, will be taken out of the space before the destruction.
There is an open invitation to accept the principle of love, reject selfishness and be saved. Accepting love means accepting Jesus Christ who came from heaven to earth to show us what love is. The ultimate expression of love was Jesus giving up His life (into the hands of the wicked and selfish) in order to allow us to see what selfishness does ultimately (that is, destroys the good) and provide an opportunity for confirmation of God’s promise to us to raise us from the dead, by God’s raising Jesus from the dead (1 Cor. 15:12-23).
In the same way that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead (Gal. 1:1), God has empowered Jesus to raise us from the dead (John 5:21, 25, 26) and if we are alive at the second coming of Christ, to change us to immortality (1 Cor. 15:51-54). When sin and selfishness are eliminated, God will place those who have accepted Him and His principle of love into a restored earth – the new earth (Rev. 21).
Will you accept the invitation? Do you believe it? This is the only assurance of continuous unending happiness. Or will you vainly invest in seeking happiness here at all cost? The truth is, even if we have times of happiness here, it is never sustained and it is always interspersed with sadness, disappointments, sickness, pain, death of loved ones and even uncertainties about our own lives. The promise is real. Let no one cause you to spiritualize away the reality of it. Jesus is real. God is real. They are persons. We will see them one day, hopefully, not for us to try to flee from them because we would have been rebellious, but hopefully to embrace them and find in their presence everlasting happiness because we would have believed and accepted the reality and submitted to God, His love and His infinite wisdom. Believe and be saved!
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).
- Zerubbabel (Zech. 4:6)