What makes you happy?

What makes you happy?

Many years ago, Charles Schultz suggested that, “Happiness is a warm puppy.”  The little book by that title contained many similar kinds of suggestions of the identity of happiness.  Whether you care for warm puppies or not, one thing is certain, there is something you are pursuing that you believe will make you happy.

As Blaise Pascal has written,

“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”

The question then, is not whether you and I are seeking happiness, but where we are seeking happiness.

In the middle of his ministry, Jesus sent out 70 of His followers to declare the message of the kingdom — and He also gave them ability to perform miracles (Luke 10).  They came back seemingly ecstatic:  “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (v. 17).  And Christ affirmed that what they had experienced was genuine; they really had exerted power over Satanic forces (v. 18-19).  And then He gave them a word of caution:  “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven” (v. 20).

Despite the dramatic exercise of power, that was not to be their happiness.  Rather, their joy was to be bound up in their identity with Christ, their adoption by the Father, and their fellowship with the godhead.  Matthew Henry summarizes this joy well:

“All believers are through grace, entitled to the inheritance of sons, and have received the adoption of sons, and the Spirit of adoption, which is the earnest of that inheritance and so are enrolled among his family; now this is matter of joy, greater joy than casting out devils. Note, Power to become the children of God is to be valued more than a power to work miracles…Saving graces are more to be rejoiced in than spiritual gifts; holy love is a more excellent way than speaking with tongues.”

What was true for the 70 is also true for us.  Our joy is not in our accomplishments (even our ministry accomplishments).  Our joy is in the truth that we have been reconciled to God through an unimaginably great gift of grace.  Our joy is in restored fellowship.  Our joy is in our position in the heavenlies.  Our joy is in Him.

As you examine your heart and desires, what really makes you happy?  Are you happy that you belong to God, or do you seek something else to make you happy?