Happiness is a serious thought. Even a little kitten knows happiness is wonderful. My cat lets me
know when she wants to play. In her playful mode, she enjoys chasing after a small ball attached
to a string. As she tries to catch the ball, I pull the string. I pull the string under the table; she
crawls through the legs of the table. She chases after it. She just loves to do that. She is a cat.
What else can you expect from her? Well, you can expect sleep from her. She loves to sleep.
When her instinct is satisfied, she is happy. On one occasion, I forgot to fill her plate with the
food and went to work. When I came home, she meowed and let me know she needed
something to eat. Her stomach had to be satisfied.

We have the same needs. We eat food. We play. We sleep. Then we feel satisfied. Our basic
instincts tell us that we have to do these things to be happy. Unless our basic needs, such as
emotional, physical, and spiritual needs are met, we are not really happy.

The word happiness embraces many meanings: gladness, blissful, blithe, cheerful, contentment,
delightful, joyful, fitting, laughing, exhilarating, animating, jovial, jocund, buoyant, elated, merry,
convivial, genial, congenial, friendly, gregarious, affable, festive, jovial, jolly, jocular, jocose,
humorous, comical, funny, witty, waggish, droll, lively, etc. The list goes on! (Try your MSWord
Thesaurus.) These words tell us happiness is important. And I believe that people will do
whatever they can to make themselves happy. But so often, why is their happiness shortlived?

We attended Rick Warren's "The PurposeDriven Conference" and it was great! One evening,
some of us went down to Laguna Beach to have dinner. It's a yuppie town. You can easily find
BMWs, Mercedez, Jaguars, Acura NSX sports car, and limos. Young, rich and professional
singles are flocking to local bars to meet people for fun. Just observing these people, it was quite
obvious what drove them to own such expensive cars and to find relationships in drinking
places. Materialism is the driving force for their happiness.

Loneliness is another factor that pushes them to find relationships, which will probably last for
one night. The sad reality is that materialism never makes people happy. It is always a dream
that's shortlived, but many are trapped in shortlived dreams of owning this and that for their
happiness. They worship it. They give their hardearned money for it. They are willing to give
everything they have to the god who demands sacrifice of their lives in exchange for happiness
that vaporizes quickly.
 

                                                       WAYS TO BE HAPPY
Now let me talk to you about happiness that will last. I have several ideas that I want to talk
about. It's very clear to me, first of all, that we need to take a good look at ourselves and ask
ourselves a question: What are we here for? Unless we know what our goals are, we don't have
direction in our lives.

Some Swedish psychologists studied 1000 happy people. Some of them were old, two were
blind, one had an incurable disease...but the great majority of them were free from tension and
fear, they enjoyed friendships with other people. What made them different from the rest? They
had a goal in life. (downloaded from John Marks Ministries ). For example, even though my
father is lonely, he does not allow his loneliness to destroy his life. He has three goals he wants
to accomplish. Goal 1: He wants to write an autobiography. Goal 2: He wants to edit and
publish 600 poems my mother had written when she was young. Goal 3: He wants to complete
a novel that is being published monthly in a literature bulletin in his hometown. To accomplish
these goals, it will take another three to five years. And I am determined that I will do whatever I
can to support him. Having a meaningful goal can surely be the motivation for happiness.

Secondly, to have a lasting happiness, define as clearly as possible what you do not want to be
at the end of your life. At the end of my life, I do not want to say, as Aristotle Onassis said, "I've
just been a machine for making money. I seem to have spent my life in a golden tunnel looking
for the outlet, which would lead to happiness. But the tunnel kept going on. After my death there
will be nothing left." Nor do I want to conclude my life, like Philosopher Voltaire, "I wish I had
never been born." Nor do I want to agree with Gould, the American millionaire, who said on his
deathbed, "I suppose I am the most miserable devil on earth." So define as clearly as possible
what you do not want to be.

Thirdly, happiness begins with knowing your self. Only humans are capable of knowing
themselves. Based on that knowledge, we are the only ones on the face of the earth who can
educate ourselves and grow to become different individuals from our past. Someone once said,
"Happiness is 'serendipity' the art of making happy discoveries while looking for something else."
To know yourself is serendipity. And I believe as God's beautiful and intelligent creatures, we
have an obligation to know ourselves. Morris Adler says, "We visit others as a matter of social
obligation. How long has it been since we have visited with ourselves?"

There are seven selfdiscovery rules set by a giant of the Christian faith, A.W. Tozer. Here are
the seven, and write down your thoughts as you go through the list.

1. What we want most our hearts' desires.
2. What we think about most our thought patterns.
3. How we use our money our motivation.
4. What we do with our leisure time our lifestyle.
5. The company we enjoy our friends.
6. Whom and what we admire our value systems.
7. What we laugh at our enjoyment.

Fourthly, get rid of your jealousy. Don't even think about comparing what you've got with what
your friend has. Jealousy destroys prosperity and success, and it will eventually destroy your
happiness. In a liberal America, the tendency is that everyone should be equal and should be
equally treated. And we expect our government to pass the laws that make sure every one of us
is treated equal at school or at our work environment. How many of you have felt unfair when
you were sued by disgruntled workers? Have you ever heard your lawyer say to you that if you
were an employer you could hardly win a dispute brought by your employees in the State of
California? It's not how right you are, but it's what the law says that will determine the case. Or
how many of our children miss the opportunity to advance in their studies in the name of
equality, when they exceed other students at school?

Life is not fair. Nor should it be. Each person is talented and gifted in different ways. Some are
good at math, while others are good at literature. Some are good at working with hands, while
others are thinkers and philosophers. Some are mechanically minded, while others are more
intuitive. If our talents and gifts are leveled out in the name of equality, our world will become far
from that which God had originally intended diversity. We are given freedom to express
ourselves in the light of God's purposes, obligations to serve others and do good to them as
Jesus loved them. And we are blessed with opportunities to live our lives in honor of our
Creator and Redeemer in freedom. What else can you ask? You don't need to be jealous of
someone. You are a unique creation of God, and you are just perfect that way.
                   CONCLUSION DAVID'S SOUL SEARCH
Fifthly, to be happy get right with God. King David was a happy man. Then, he committed a
series of sins: adultery, murder, and coverups of his sins from God. But when the Prophet
Nathan confronted him with his sins, he decided to get right with God. How? By responsibly
acknowledging his sins, and then confessing them before the Lord. Only then did he ask for
God's mercy and forgiveness for his wrongdoings. In verse 5 of Psalm 32, David writes, "I
acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, 'I will confess my
transgressions to the Lord,' And You forgave the iniquity of my sin."

We learn more about ourselves, not from success, but from failures and mistakes. Every one of
us knows the skeletons in our closet. But we are fearful of admitting that we have them. And we
are afraid of the consequences of admitting them. If I confess my sins to the Lord, what can he
think of me? You don't have to pretend to be perfect before the eyes of the Lord. He knows
you inside and out; and you are imperfect. Confess. Ask for forgiveness. The Lord will give you
second chance or third and fourth chance. Freedom is more precious than feeling sorry for your
failures. Psalm 32:10 says, "But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him." You will
be forgiven. You become truly a happy man and woman.

Let me make a comment on David's trust in the Lord. He didn't know how to quit from trusting
on the Lord. So when his life was in jeopardy due to his sins, he felt threatened because his sins
separated him from the Lord's presence. You and I come to the church almost every Sunday to
worship the Lord. Friendship is important. Fellowship is good. But every one of us is searching
for something bigger than ourselves, and we believe we meet God in this church. We believe
happiness comes from faith in the Lord. Then why don't you commit your life to Christ? Why
have you given up on your faith in the Lord? Why not give everything else to the Lord who loves
you and made you unique. He knows the best for you.
1. Finding a purpose.
2. Define what you do not want to become at the end of your life.
3. Know your self.
4. Get rid of jealousy.
5. Get right with God.
 
 

Original Site:     http://www.west.net/~artlars/aug0298.htm