How to be happy in this life? True happiness means enjoyment. If we enjoy dancing, for example, then such a hobby is pleasurable to us. But we can be happy by just sitting down if we enjoy the moment.
Charles Spurgeon once said that "It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."
True Happiness Lives Within US
True happiness lives inside of us. It is not the activity of dancing, for example, that gives us a sense of real satisfaction, for people go to the dance even in the hour of sadness.
Even the thought of dancing gives us delight if it gives us pleasure doing it. True happiness just stays in our heart even in the absence of things that give us pleasure. It always becomes a part of us if we are contented and peaceful.
Jesus Christ did not experience the pleasure of a rich man. There is even no record that He did laugh. But at the moment of His death and in the presence of His murderers, He prayed "Father, forgive them."
Jesus Christ did not experience the pleasure of a rich man. There is even no record that He did laugh. But at the moment of His death and in the presence of His murderers, He prayed "Father, forgive them."
Charles Spurgeon once said that "It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."
True Happiness Versus Our Resistance to Accepting Realities
Someone has well said that the first solution to a problem is the acceptance that it exists. The primary cause of our unhappiness, therefore, is our resistance to accepting realities. We have a problem, an empty something, a vacuum inside us that we need to fill with truth and reason.
This EMPTY SOMETHING that causes us dissatisfaction and discontent may be termed as the three questions of life. We have heard them already. The first query is, why are we here; second, where did we come from; and third, where shall we go from here?
True Happiness Comes From God
True happiness comes from a satisfactory answer to the above questions of life. And the answer is the first four words of the Holy Bible: "In the beginning God."
Why are we here? The answer is "In the beginning God." The same key to the last two questions: God!
Adam of old experienced the same empty something after being catapulted out of paradise. Then, he was profoundly in search for meaning! He had to answer the questions of life to be happy.
Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where shall we go from here? Answer them, Adam, and you'll be happy! That's it.
"Come to Me," Christ gave an invitation to all of us, "all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28) Yes, "rest" here means a real sense of happiness, satisfaction, and assurance.
True Happiness Does Not Come From Fame and Riches
True happiness, therefore, does not come even amidst riches, fame, intelligence, and good looks once the thought of becoming old, sick, and dying starts to invade your peace.
Remember the Billionaire Manny Pacquiao conversion and his real trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Fame and riches did not provide the boxer Pacquiao true happiness in life until he came to Christ by faith.
Remember the Billionaire Manny Pacquiao conversion and his real trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior. Fame and riches did not provide the boxer Pacquiao true happiness in life until he came to Christ by faith.
Contentment, satisfaction, cheerfulness, joy, delight, good spirits, lightheartedness, well-being, enjoyment---these are the synonyms for happiness. And it is felt as a positive emotion of the inner person. True happiness resides in the inner man. It is not something outside of the person. Will you be truly happy, for example, having received the insurance benefits of your beloved someone--benefits from the policy of a dead wife or child? Certainly, not. True happiness thus, cannot be bought with money for it is all about yourself, not any stimulus outside of your being.
What is that empty something that's somehow invading our happy serenity? Well, it is that feeling of vulnerability, rejection, hopelessness, insecurity, irrational ambition, selfishness, a guilty conscience, a sense of sinfulness--a feeling of being unclean, wicked and godless inside of us.
Socrates taught us to "Know thyself" but failed to teach us how! Know thyself; answer the three questions of life--and you will be happy.
Christ has the answer--He is the Answer: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
