FREEDOMTRUTH RADIO
Finding Real Happiness
God wants you to seek the highest happiness there is to experience. The Bible teaches this, and many great saints from church history taught this as well. Finding real happiness is serious business.
All of us seek happiness. There is no exception to this rule. The methods may vary from person to person, but the search is always for the same goal. This is the motive for every action of mankind, even for those who commit suicide. All of us pursue a path we believe will result in our happiness. Our longing for happiness is hardwired into us by God.
In the beginning, happiness is what God provided Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He only forbid them from doing one thing, and this was to protect them because the forbidden action would destroy their happiness. (He tried to protect them from the knowledge of sin, because sin brings death and misery.)
When Satan tempted Adam and Eve to rebel against God, he lied and used a false promise of greater happiness. (Satan deceived them into thinking they would find greater happiness if they disobeyed God and rebelled against His command… the same lie he tells us, today.) He convinced them the grass was greener on the other side. He lied.
Seeking happiness is not sinful. Sin is seeking happiness apart from God, in rebellion against His truth.
Filling Our Infinite Void
Everyone seeks happiness, but sooner or later we all come to realize it’s a frustrating pursuit. Any happiness we may find is temporary and it soon gives way to familiar frustrations and empty feelings. Even though there are many good things on this earth, the happiness we seek can't be found in these things. We have unsatisfied longings deep in our soul. We hear this longing in David Foster Wallace’s words:
“We’re all lonely for something we don’t know we’re lonely for.” (Infinite Jest, 1053, note 281)
King Solomon was very wise, and he wrote about pleasure's failure to satisfy:
“I decided to test myself with pleasure to find what is good, but this also proved to be meaningless. Laughter was empty, and what did pleasure accomplish? I tried cheering myself with wine and embracing pleasure – my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do during their short lives on earth. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I denied myself no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. Yet when I surveyed all my hands had done and what I had accomplished, everything was meaningless. A chasing after the wind. Nothing of value was gained.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 10-11)
What does the failure to find lasting happiness show us? It shows that mankind once possessed true happiness, but all that’s left is an empty shell. In vain we try to refill it with the people and pleasures around us, but these are all inadequate. The infinite void inside us can only be filled by something that is infinite. It can only be filled by God. All of the Bible speaks this truth: that only through God is “fullness of joy” and “pleasure forevermore” truly found. Apart from Him, nothing will bring satisfaction on earth. Only through God will our restless, happiness-seeking souls find rest. Only the infinite God can fill our infinite void.
Why does this void exist? Where does it come from? To find out, please read the first Redpill article "The War is Real".
Never forget that God created you to be eternal - a soul and spirit that possesses a temporary physical body. You had a beginning but you will never have an end. How long do we have on earth... 80, maybe 90 years? Then what? Eternity. A million years in eternity makes our 80 years on earth seem very small by comparison. It's all ahead of us. Eternity with God is infinite joy. Eternity without God is infinite misery. He allows you to choose. Please read "My Needs are Real".
“Oh God, You make known to me the path of life. You fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” (Psalm 16:11)
“Whom have I in heaven, but You? Earth has nothing for me. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
“Yes, my soul finds rest in God; my hope comes from Him.” (Psalm 62:5)