Happiness

What does it take for a person to be legitimately HAPPY?

If you’re like me, the first thing you do is draw a straight line to all the things that aren’t the way they’re supposed to be, and say, if this got fixed, and maybe this, and then this, THEN I’d be happy.  OR A LOT CLOSER.

And you’ve got a lot to point to…

If you’re not making the kind of money you’re worth for your work…you could point to that. If you’re not feeling valued in your relationship the way you should be.. People around you that won’t own their choices.. When you see people getting to do the things you long to do. Maybe you’ve got a dream situation you want to get to, but there are just so many obstacles..

It’s really hard to imagine being happy until those things get put right.

The question I’m asking: Would fixing all that really make you happy?

TRUTH or HOAX?

If it’s TRUTH you’ve got some problems you need to face.

#1 Your happiness is mostly up to other people.  That’s a serious disadvantage, because you’re going to have to figure out how to get other people to care, think right, be fair, do the right thing…before you can be happy.

#2  Your happiness depends on your ability to succeed at your goals.  Which you honestly may have a shot at.  Even so, that takes time, right?  Some goals takes years to meet.  Plus, you may not have the same advantages that someone else has getting to the same goal.  Which is really frustrating.  You can work harder at something than someone next to you, and they get farther? No fair.

And then when you arrive at the goal, it’ll be a great feeling!  But how long will it last?  A week?  Two weeks?  Will the effect just wear off after a little? What if success only works for just a little while at a time, and you have to start over and get more in order to keep the happy flowing? Is MOST of life just long periods of UN-happiness while you're working toward goals for a brief burst of happy at a time?

I don’t know where you are personally on faith, whether you’ve ever really read anything that Jesus said to people.  Most people know he was against hypocrisy, loved people, and some other things. Most DON’T KNOW that his most famous teaching started off all about HAPPINESS.  And if you believed what Jesus said about happiness, you’d have to believe that everything we’re hardwired to believe will make us happy, is a HOAX.

Jesus is standing in the middle of nowhere; thousands of people followed him out into no-man’s land, hoping for some miracles to fix their biggest life issues. But in the middle of this epic crowd, he stands up, and gives a long speech about an updated version of what “good” really is. But he starts with happiness…

It’s camouflaged as a fluffy-sounding word - “blessed”.

It means “to have everything you need”.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will see the kingdom of heaven.

  Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

  Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

- Matthew 5:1-5 NIV

It’s sounds fluffy at first, but it’s way more raw than you think…

Poor in spirit is a sensation that you are spiritually/morally bankrupt.  Like, “I don’t have enough good in me to be able to say that I’m a good person.”

Mourning is about letting yourself to feel really deep regret, over things that have happened that shouldn’t have happened. For people who will allow themselves to focus on that, there’s a pathway to happiness… That’s like the opposite of what people are saying today…”don’t spend time thinking about the past… happiness is a mindset… focus on positive thins”

Being meek is about believing that other people are just as important as you are.  You don’t need to prove to anybody that you’re more important than anybody else….if you can let that go, you can look forward to being trusted with something really big…

Already this seems like it has to be wrong.

I was taught that you’ve gotta go out and chase down happiness, rule your world, show everybody what’s up. Jesus is talking about chasing down something different…

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

- Matthew 5:6 NIV

That’s about desperately wishing you could be God’s version of good.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.”

- Matthew 5:7 NIV

That doesn’t sound right. I’m thinking getting justice is what’s going to do it for me. Mercy sounds like people getting away with things. It sounds like he’s saying I’m going to need mercy from him, so I need a merciful attitude toward other people.

He talks about being “pure in heart” being transparent with myself about my real motives.

None of this sounds like anything we assume will bring us happiness.  Actually, it sounds like the total opposite of happiness. Then things get really weird.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness…

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven.”

- Matthew 5:10,11 NIV

I’m going to do good and get treated badly for it? That sounds wrong to me. Unless.

The only way that could be true…is if your happiness comes from somewhere else beside your present circumstances. That’s the only way any of these things could mean anything.

That’s exactly what he’s saying; if you’ll allow yourself to acknowledge your real weaknesses, your real mistakes, you’re real messed up-ness, you can have a real relationship with the one who created you.  It’s that willingness to get real about yourself…to let yourself feel and face yourself as you really are, humility.  That’s the attitude he’s looking for, and it’s an attitude anyone can have, if they’re willing.

“I know I’m not truly good, and I just want to be reconciled with God, no matter what.”

Jesus says, in so many words, that’s the attitude that’s your ticket to being reconciled with the one who made you.  Fully.  Certainly.  100% sure.

If that’s real, it doesn’t make everything in the present fun necessarily.  But it does something that’s way beyond fun. It brings CERTAINTY that sometime in the future, absolutely everything that’s wrong with life is going to be put right.  Fully. Forever.

If that’s real, it brings something to a person’s life that’s difficult to describe in any other way except “you’d have to experience it.”  And that’s exactly why Jesus is talking, to invite you to take on an unusual attitude, and experience it yourself, with his help.