The Pursuit of Happiness…

Have you ever thought about the pursuit of “Happiness”? In America, its human nature to want “EASY”. We’ve been programmed to strive for more money and more convenience, which prosperity is all about. The part most people miss is when we reach our goal, attaining that higher paying job, that bonus at work, or an inheritance that “sets us up”, we soon forget what “hard work” is; what persistence and determination are. We take for granted many things, including how we see things and how we treat people. If it continues to go unchecked, we may even start to view ourselves as “better than” others. When this happens, look out. Our behavior will mimic our attitude. When we start to take things for granted, we tend to stop pursuing God. This leads to our believing “we are in control”, and thus start to leave God out. We stop reading our Bible, stop praying, or at least stop praying fervently with a desperate dependence upon God. We skip church for the pleasure of an afternoon on the lake. After this continues and solidifies a pattern of “self-sufficiency”, “BOOM”, adversity strikes, and we have no clue what to do. All the prosperity has left us bankrupt without God. Then the worry, stress, and anxiety set in. We wonder why God is not close to us. We start to blame Him, or at least question “why?”. All of this happens due to our inability to handle “good times” (prosperity). Life is all about mountain-top experiences, along with valley periods. The good and bad help us stay balanced. You can’t always live expecting the mountain-top experiences to last, because they won’t. There will eventually come storms and we must prepare for them. God knows this, and we do too. God is sovereign, He knows how things work (for He designed them). His plan is for us to be close to Him, regardless of the circumstances. To read, to pray, to commune, whether it be in prosperous times or in adverse conditions. True “happiness” is found in Jesus, this is the JOY the Bible talks about. Knowing He is our treasure keeps us grounded and prevents the trap of pursuing riches and fame. Prosperity isn’t supposed to be an all-day, everyday thing. Once you accept this truth, you won’t see it as the #1 goal in life. It will be part of life that we all experience, and we will know it has a time-limit on it. Having “means” doesn’t give us the right to say “NO” to God. Never forget this.

5 People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling. Job 12:5