The Search for True Happiness
by Pastor Jim May
In today’s church, more than ever before, it is so easy to go after things that we believe will bring true happiness. But what we often find after we have obtained what we sought after is most often far less than what we thought it would be and then we find that happiness is a fleeting thing.
True happiness and joy in life is not found in the possessions we have or the in the gusto that we can get out of living. What little enjoyment, what little happiness, and what little satisfaction we get out of the things of the world are very short-lived, and more often than not, those very same things become a millstone around our neck to weigh us down.
The words of Jesus ring loud and true when he says in Matthew 10:39, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
The Search for true happiness always begins in the mind of man. We are bombarded with a constant barrage of messages coming from the radio, the TV or from friends, coworkers and relatives. These messages are like an open ended pipeline that empty into your mind a flood of information and thoughts that become the seed of temptation to chase after them.
Let me give you some examples:
Not long ago, there was a certain movie that was advertised on TV that was based upon the historical setting of the U. S. Civil War. Since I have always loved to read and watch stories of this time period, I determined to get a copy of this movie and to watch it. Like so many other people, I bought the DVD without ever having seen the movie first. Can I tell you that there was very little historical information in that film? Can I also tell you that if I had known what was in that movie that I would never have purchased it?
Just like you, I fell prey to the advertisement in my search for entertainment that would bring a moment of enjoyment, only to discover that the thing I wanted was a danger to my soul.
Then there are those whose search for happiness is in the bottle at the local bar. You can see them, if you care to look, every afternoon when they get off work. They leave the job and stop off for “Happy Hour” at their favorite watering hole. We all know that the “happiness” that comes in the bottle is not real and very fleeting. I don’t doubt that the happiness they bring only lasts for an hour.
That man or woman who indulges in alcohol or drugs or any such things that are touted to produce an artificial high and a false happiness, are in reality, a deadly potion for the destruction of the true happiness and joy in life. Those kinds of things create within us a false sense of joy that is soon shattered when we come to the realization of what they have done to our homes and lives.
How many homes and marriages have been utterly destroyed as a result of these “Happy Hour” parties? How many children are living in broken homes, without mom or dad, and maybe going to bed hungry every night while mom or dad, or both, are searching for themselves and seeking after the satisfaction that one more drink or one more fix can give to the them?
But the search for happiness and the fulfillment in you life doesn’t always have to come in the form of alcohol or drugs. People search for happiness in multitudes of ways.
Satan loves to get men and women in playing games. It all seems so innocent at first. Maybe just a phone call to a long lost friend from your school days, or maybe just a short visit with a former spouse, or a member of the old gang at school.
The same temptation that Satan brought to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, so long ago, is just as powerful as it was the first time he used it.
Genesis 3:1-7, "Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Satan always uses the subtle, sneaky, and underhanded methods at his disposal to get us to do his bidding. He never lets you see the end result of what you are about to do, only the joy and happiness of the moment when you indulge in what he places before you.
When Eve was faced with her temptation, she was blinded from the truth by her own desire to have what the devil offered. She was seeking after her own life, her own will, and didn’t realize that she was about to lose that life eternally.
I want you to see the pattern that the Devil uses in bringing us down. I am convinced that, if we stop to look, we can see this same pattern at work within us quite often. Satan’s deception hasn’t changed. He uses our own desire for the things that God has told us to stay away from to bring us to a place of disobedience and sin.
First, he plants a doubt in your mind that God really cares. That question, …Didn’t God say that you shall not eat of every tree of the garden…, was designed as a trick question. His purpose was to get Eve to confess that there was a restriction that God had placed upon her life.
It doesn’t matter how much God blesses us with. He can give us a nice home, a nice car, a good job, new clothes, a loving, caring spouse and so many other things, but the devil always comes to us and let’s us know that God still has set some restrictions on your life. He tries to convince you that you can’t really be happy, you can’t really be free, unless you have total freedom to do whatever you want or have whatever or whoever you want.
His deception makes us believe that God really isn’t watching, that God really doesn’t care, or that God is a tyrant who sits on his throne and rules over us with an iron hand and keeps us from really having the best things in life. Satan convinces us that we cannot be truly happy without having what we really want, even if God has forbidden it.
So, secondly, he brings us to the place where we believe that God is not being totally fair with us.
Thirdly, the devil convinces us that true happiness can only be found in getting what we want for ourselves and that God wants us to have it.
How many times have I heard this excuse for indulging in sin, “Well doesn’t God want me to be happy? Doesn’t God know that I need this relationship, I need this 2nd or 3rd job to pay for whatever it is that I wanted so badly, I need this activity on the sports field, I need to get this work done around the house, and I need to rest after a long-hard week? God will understand when I don’t have time for church, for Bible study, or for prayer anymore. God loves me and he wants me to have the best.
Now all of that seems so good on the surface but we fail to remember that even though God loves us, his justice overrides his love and that we cannot escape judgment.
Eve looked at the fruit and it certainly looked good. She threw God’s commandment to the wind and took a bite and I can believe that this was probably the best tasting fruit in the whole garden. The devil was right. God was holding out on her. He just didn’t want her to have the best, but now she had it anyway.
Isn’t that the way we think too in our pursuit for happiness! Whatever we want always looks so good. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The next house always looks better, the next hand of cards, or the next roll of the dice will be a winner! Just one little smoke, one little drink, one little bite, or one more little white lie to cover up the white lies I’ve already told, what can it hurt? The next car always looks better, the next job always seems better, or the next relationship with someone else has to be better than what we have now, and on it goes.
It’s not until after we have committed the sin that we realize that we have been fooled again and that we are not happy again. In fact, the more we indulge in sin, the less happiness we will find and our life begins a downward spiral into a pit of sorrow and despair. But you can’t see that in the beginning and Satan’s deception is so strong, and our desire for sin is so strong that we cannot or will not hear the warnings that come forth.
Adam and Eve had the ultimate life of happiness, joy and fulfillment. They lived every day of their lives without having to live by the clock and earn their living. They lived in the most beautifully landscaped garden that God had created just for them. They had each other in a wonderful, pure, honest, and innocent relationship. They were married by God himself, and made for one another to live together as husband and wife, sharing the best that God could give and they were meant to live forever in such a wonderful life.
But their own desire for something they didn’t really want, caused them to sin, and the very happiness they sought was forever lost. It was too late and there was no going back now. Their innocence was turned to sin. Sin brought death into their life. Death of joy, death of happiness, death of the perfect life, death of God’s blessings upon them, death to their relationship with one another and with God, death to their children, death to all mankind and most of all, death eternal from the God who had created them.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that we won’t bring those same results on ourselves if we disobey God in seeking for true happiness in our own life.
That better job may turn into a living hell where you are under the thumb of a boss who thinks he owns you. That new vehicle may turn into a financial drain that you can’t handle. That new house may be a money pit that goes on forever. That new relationship with someone outside of marriage can bring on divorce, pain and suffering to yourself and everyone around you, and will always bring you to a place of more pain and anguish than you ever knew. Not only that, but in today’s society, it could bring physical death through AIDS or some other disease.
I believe that God meant what he said in Matthew 10:39, "He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
You can go searching for your own true happiness and fulfillment in life, throwing aside the restrictions of God’s Word and casting aside the warnings of God’s commandments, but you won’t “find” your life in the process, you will lose everything that has any real meaning to you.
Now I also want to point something else out to you in this scripture in Matthew. Jesus didn’t say that if you lose your life, for the sake of other people, that you will find true happiness either.
I know too many people who live life with the “Martyr’s Syndrome”. What does that mean? It simply means that they live only to make other people happy. They give all of their energy and time into providing only the best for their spouse and children. They live through their children, vicariously, because they have no life of their own. They live only to satisfy every whim of their parents, their friends or their family. They are convinced that their own life has no meaning without being a martyr to the needs of others.
What kind of life is that? It certainly is not a life of joy and happiness. I know that a certain amount of joy and satisfaction is obtained by serving others. Serving others is good and it is the way of life for a Christian, but God never intended for us to live only for others. God also wants you to enjoy the life that he has given you for yourself. Serving other people, at the neglect of God’s will for your life, does not result in true happiness.
So how do we find real happiness? Is there a place in life where joy can reign in me? Is there a place, or a way of life, that will always bring true fulfillment? The answer is “yes”! There is a place, and there is a life that you can live that will bring real joy, real peace, and real fulfillment, and here is how you will find it!
The second half of Matthew 10:39 says, "… and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it."
How often have I tried to counsel married couples that, if they really want a successful and happy marriage, they need to stay in church and stay close to Jesus!
How often have I preached that true happiness can only be found in Christ! True joy can only be found in faithfully serving him! True fulfillment is only found in obeying the Word of God and living a holy, sanctified life!
I am amazed that God’s people, Christians, are so caught up in the pursuit of happiness that they miss the only real source of happiness. They search everywhere except in Jesus.
What does it mean to “lose your life for the sake of Christ”? It means that every day of your life is spent in doing the will of God, whatever and wherever he leads.
It means committing your way, your will, your desires and your whole being, to the Lord. Anything less than complete obedience is rebellion and all rebellion is sin, and God cannot and will not bless sin.
Everything we do, everywhere we go, whoever we are friends with, and every moment of our lives must be according to God’s will.
Too many people tell me that they don’t know God’s will, but that is a lame excuse and a lie. The Holy Ghost within me won’t allow me to fail God without first bringing a spirit of conviction upon me and reminding me in that still, small voice, that I shouldn’t do that. He will always try to lead me in the right path. That’s what happens to me and God is no respecter of persons so I know he does the same to you.
I believe that the Holy Ghost talks to us every time we make a bad choice, and every time we even think about disobeying God. I know that He speaks to us. Our problem is that we don’t want to hear what he has to say. We don’t like it when God tells us that we shouldn’t take a bite out of that fruit that we want so bad.
If you want a life that filled with joy, filled with true happiness and is really fulfilling, then learn to listen to that still, small voice of the Holy Ghost as he speaks to you.
Live your life for Jesus without compromise! That’s when you will not only live the best life that this world has to offer, but you will obtain eternal life at the same time. Now that’s really living.
Nothing the world or the devil has to offer can compare to living for Jesus.
In closing let me ask you this morning, has the devil been placing some “fruit” before your eyes that seems to be just what the doctor ordered to make you happy? Do you feel like something is missing in your life?
Don’t be deceived. The world can’t fill that emptiness. The things of this world will only leave you feeling more empty.
Real happiness is only found in serving Jesus!
