Psalm 1 – “Habits That Lead To Happiness”
Peace In The Pandemic...
The McDonalds “Happy Meal” might be the most famous meal in all the world.
It's a meal for a kid ... that promises to make them happy – at least for a few fleeting minutes!
In the mid-1970s, a MacDonald’s restaurant in Guatemala offered a hamburger, small fries and a small sundae specifically for kids.
The idea was eventually brought to the attention of McDonald's head office who then asked advertising consultant, Bob Bernstein, to develop the idea further. Bernstein thought marketing a meal for kids would make everyone happier. Kids could now get a packaged meal all their own instead of just picking at their parent's food.
Bernstein branded it “the happy meal” - meals designed especially for kids and featuring a toy. Happy kids meant happy parents too!
Who hasn’t gone to MacDonald’s looking for that elusive thing called happiness? If only finding happiness was that easy!
We live in a culture awash in talk about happiness. In one three-month period last year, more than 1,000 books were released on Amazon on that subject.
... a man took a journey throughout the United States, polling different people, asking them what was the one thing they wanted out of life, more than anything else. What would you guess the majority of responses were? Money? Fame? Power?
Well the one response he got far and away above more than anything else was happiness.
Everywhere he went, and he asked people, "What is it that you want more than anything else in life?"
almost everyone without exception said, "Happiness."
And then he asked about those other things, about money and fame and power.
And they said, "Well, those things are means to that greater end. What we really want is happiness in life."
I think that most human beings throughout the world want happiness in their lives. For example, in the US, the Declaration of Independence states that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are human rights.
. And this culture, especially in the last thirty or forty years, has made the pursuit of happiness a national pastime.
watch television and you see this in commercials...
• They say that if you buy that new car/truck/QUAD... you will be happy.
• If you take that vacation to Mexico, you will be happy!!!
• If you lose those extra ten pounds, you will be happy.
advertisers know that the one thing we want is to be happy...
Yale's Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness
Jeffrey Arthurs, Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary; source: David Shimer, "Yale's Most Popular Class Ever: Happiness," The New York Times (1-26-18). Reported in "Church and Culture" blog, 14/24.
The most popular course in the history of Yale University was offered in the fall of 2017—PSYCH 157: Psychology and the Good Life. Nearly one-fourth of Yale undergraduates registered for it. Laurie Santos, the psychology professor who teaches the course, says that she "tries to teach students how to lead a happier, more satisfying life." No wonder the course has caught on—a 2013 report by the Yale College Council found that "more than half of undergraduates sought mental health care from the university" while enrolled.
One of Santos' principle lessons is that the things Yale undergraduates most associate with achieving happiness—a high grade, a prestigious internship, a good-paying job—do not increase happiness at all. "Scientists didn't realize this in the same way 10 or so years ago," Santos says. "Our intuitions about what will make us happy, like winning the lottery and getting a good grade, are totally wrong."
Youth Feel Pressured to Maintain Happiness Façade
Laura Vanderkam, "A Generation Living for Likes," The Wall Street Journal (2-14-17)
Donna Freitas in her thought-provoking book The Happiness Effect, argues that the real downside of social media is that it demands fake happiness. She writes:
Because young people feel so pressured to post happy things on social media, most of what everyone sees on social media from their peers are happy things; as a result, they often feel inferior because they aren't actually happy all the time … . students are becoming masters of appearing happy, at significant cost …. Many students have begun to see what they post (on Facebook, especially) as a chore—a homework assignment to build a happy façade.
A full 73 percent of the students she surveyed agreed this this statement: "I try always to appear positive/happy with anything attached to my real name."
Only 19 percent of respondents agreed that "I am open about my emotions on social media."
But the question is—how do we go about finding that happiness?
Read psalm 1...
Blessed = happy!
There are a variety of words in the Old Testament which mean "blessed" but this one means "happy."
It means to be completely happy. - Hebrew- 'esher (835)
Parents... what do you want for your kids? ?
“We just want them to be happy --- Happiness!
Solution ? buy them a burger & fries --McDonalds is the answer...
Psalm 1 shows the habits that lead to happiness...
1. No 1 – Choose Your Circle of Influence Carefully
Avoid Trouble And trouble-makers
Parents ...manage this as long as you can!
School-yard
Online...
Social media
? Don’t walk with the Wicked
? Avoid the Way of Sinners
? Don’t sit in the company of mockers
? Websites...
Choosing friends... choosing heroes...
See Proverbs 1
High school – I choose loneliness over sinners.
Youth group plays a huge role
You need a local church... a small group... a youth group – learn from those a stage or two ahead of you.
Much of life is caught by being in a good environment...
Example:____________ (Don Hennessey);
2. No. 2 Delight In God’s Word... (read and obey)
Read
Memorize
Obey
Why? (1) truth (2) reveals God (3) inspired ** 2 Tim 3:16
Psalm 119 – celebration of God’s Word...
Bible is best read as 1 story...
• Origins
• Purpose
• Destiny
Centered in Jesus of Nazareth... and his work of reconciliation... and our calling to participate in that worl.
My dad reminded me often to read the bible before bed...
In an article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinkser interviews author Raj Raghunathan about his new book If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy?
The article begins:
There are three things, once one's basic needs are satisfied, that academic literature points to as the ingredients for happiness:
having meaningful social relationships,
being good at whatever it is one spends one's days doing,
and having the freedom to make life decisions independently.
But research into happiness has also yielded something a little less obvious: Being better educated, richer, or more accomplished doesn't do much to predict whether someone will be happy. In fact, it might mean someone is less likely to be satisfied with life.
Raghunathan goes on to say,
“...There are expectations that if you achieve some given thing, you're going to be happy. But it turns out that's not true. … a large part of it also is that you see this mountain in front of you and you want to climb over it. And when you do, it turns out there are more mountains to climb.”
3. No. 3 Meditate On God’s Word
Think on it
Once memorized you can mediate any time...
Why?
? Keeps us God conscious
? Renews our mind
? Like fresh air to the lungs!
Journal...
Ask 3 questions
What?
What does it mean?
What does it mean for me?
Observe – Interpret - Apply.
Connect the dots – OT to NT
One story – not random stories
Online resources – like the bible project.
4. No. 4 – Plant Yourself Near Water! (salvation)
Tree analogy...
Jesus is the “living water”
John 4 – drink this water and never thirst!
See here the decision to follow Christ – “born again”
This is more than listening... attending... this is believing & worshipping...
Greatest command – love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, strength
Draw near to God in prayer/worship/wisdom
Ministry of the Holy Spirit... = walk in the spirit .
Is the fruit of the spirit Growing in you???
Books
Podcasts
Music ...
Church
Source of nourishment
Source of life
Example; play soccer... you find yourself a good team...good coach... good workout plan; good nutrition...
Environment!!!
Contagious...
Fuel of Happiness
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Harper Collins, 1952
A car is made to run on petrol [gasoline], and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.
That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way ... God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.
5. No. 5 – Identify Chaff From Wheat – Discernment.
See Proverbs 1
Gullible...young...
Burton Cummings song –
“I got in too deep with strangers... thinking they could help me find my way... nobody warned me of the danger and it's always the young and foolish that have to pay....”
Entertainment...
Screen time...
Are you discerning wheat from chaff???
Evidence Shows Money isn't the Key to Happiness
Rebecca McLaughlin and Krystal Smith, "10 Ways Modern Psychology Aligns with Biblical Wisdom," The Veritas Forum (January, 2017)
The 2015 American Freshman Survey asked thousands of incoming students about their goals and aspirations.
• The highest proportion (81.9 percent) checked "becoming very well off financially" as an "essential" or "very important" life objective.
• But research indicates that if we pin our hopes of happiness on money, we are likely to be disappointed.
• evidence suggests that beyond a basic level of income, after $75,000 there is no correlation with happiness...
"Wealth itself has only a small direct effect on happiness because it so effectively speeds up the hedonic treadmill …
Here’s what’s been observed... “Spending rises to meet income”
6. No 6 – Think Long-Term;.
Steven Covey ( 7 habits of highly successful people)says – begin with the end in mind.
End = judgement day
Problem – (1) denial (2) procrastination.
The bible continually reminds us of Jesus return and judgement... “well done, good and faithful servant...”
7. No. 7 – Ask The Lord To Watch Over You;
live close to him; allow him to be your watcher...
“the lord is watching out for you...”
He is the good shepherd!!!
*** Conclusion – Psalm 119
Application – blessed to thrive/enjoy life... blessed to be a blessing
I called this message – habits that lead to happiness...
I could also call it habits that lead to holiness... because we are moral creatures with a conscience... it all starts with holiness...
We have been created by God – in his image – and we cannot live outside of him and feel content or fulfilled.
Holiness produces happiness...
We cannot be truly happy without holiness!
Challenge/take-away...
Read this book....
Meditate on this book
Let it shape your character
Don’t treat like a dictionary... only reading it when you need a quick answer...
Read it like a love story... read it like family history...
