Epictetus, the ancient philosopher said, "If a man is unhappy, this
must be his own fault, for God made all men to be happy." A
Christian writer, St. Bernard, said something similar. "Nothing can
work me damage except myself; the harm that I sustain I carry about
with me, and never am a real sufferer but by my own fault." These
two men represent the internal philosophy of happiness. External
mean nothing, and need have no effect upon the happiness of a
person, is their view.
External evil is recognized as a reality, but one does not need to
let it penetrate his inner being. Epictetus, for example, said, "I must
die, but must I die sorrowing? I must be put in chains. Must I then
also lament? I must go into exile. Can I be prevented from going with
cheerfulness and contentment? But I will put you in prison.
Man, what are you saying? You may put my body in prison, but my
mind not even Zeus himself can overpower." Here is a rare example
of how even a pagan slave can, by the power of positive thinking,
demonstrate the human capacity for internal happiness without the
externals usually associated with happiness.
The facts of life and history show that this is possible, but it is also
highly improbable that more than a few rare individuals can
completely ignore the externals of life. The vast majority of people
depend upon externals almost exclusively. They grasp at things as the
only source of satisfaction. People really believe that more money
can bring happiness in spite of the fact that the suicide rate is higher
among the haves than among the have nots. Abdalrahman the Khalif
had thousands of wives, and millions upon millions of wealth, but this
is what he wrote near the end of his life: "I have now reigned above
50 years in victory or peace. I have been beloved of my subjects,
dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and
honor, power and pleasure have waited on my call, nor does any
earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity. In this
situation I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine
happiness which have fallen to my lot: They amount to fourteen."
No amount of externals can guarantee happiness, yet man's
natural tendency is to search for happiness in that direction. Men
have a hard time believing that there is any hope of happiness apart
from externals. Aristotle represented the Greek view when he said
that the blessed life was impossible to the diseased, the poor, and the
slave. Samuel Johnson had a close friend who said that his
sister-in-law was really a happy woman. This made Johnson mad,
and he replied like the brute he could be, "If your sister-in-law is
really the contented being she professes herself, sir, her life gives the
lie to every research to humanity; for she is happy, without health,
without beauty, without money, and without understanding." He went
away growling, "I tell you the woman is ugly, and sickly, and
foolish and poor, and would it not make a man hang himself to hear
such a creature say she was happy?" The very idea of being happy
without the values so treasured by his materialistic heart made him
angry. It does not seem fair to the secularist who has struggled for all
the externals of wealth, power, and fame to see people who are happy
who have not made the struggle.
Paul would have made him angry by his words in Phil. 4:11-12.
Paul said, "...For I have learned to be content whatever the
circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is
to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and
every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want." Paul's happiness was not dependent upon what
happened, or what he had. This means that Paul's happiness was
internal. Paul did not have control over the externals of his life, but
like everybody else does, he had control over how he would react to
life internally.
If it is only going to be a happy new year for us if we get more
stuff, and all goes well, then we are living on a different level than
Paul was on. This does not mean we should not get more stuff, and
that we should not strive to make all go well. Paul advised Christians
to live peaceably with all men, and to prevent all the negatives of life
that they can. But if this is your only level of happiness you are too
controlled by the externals, and changes can quickly rob you of your
joy in Christ. We need to see the externals as fringe benefits, and not
the base salary of the Christian life. The foundation is to be internal
and attitudinal rather than external and material. Jesus and Paul
agree here completely. Happiness does not depend on what happens,
but on how you face all that happens. Jesus is saying in the beatitudes
that you can be happy even if you are experiencing many negative
externals. At this point we need to take a detour off the main road to deal
with the problem that Christians have with reconciling being happy
and miserable at the same time. One of the major problems the
Christian has in the pursuit of happiness is the sense of failure that
comes due to times of depression and other unhappy feelings. Many
feel guilty for not being happy in the Lord. Their unhappiness is
magnified by their guilt. They say, "I know I should be happy, but I
just can't seem to feel the joy of the Lord." The first thing we need to
do is clarify the Christians right to be miserable on a variety of levels.
Jesus wept because of people's rejection of God's grace. This makes
it clear that the Christian has every right to be unhappy over lost
people. If a Christian feels guilty about being sad over this lost world,
he is feeling guilty for being Christlike, for Jesus wept over this same
thing.
Jesus also wept over the sorrow of death and the lose of a loved
one. He was very unhappy also with the hypocrisy of the Pharisees,
and the injustice of man to man. He felt rotten about the way the
temple was being used to rip off the poor, and how widows were being
taken advantage of, and their houses being taken from them. Add up
all the unhappy feelings of Jesus over the fallen nature of man, and
you have a host of legitimate reasons to be unhappy as a Christian. In
fact, it is unchristian if you are never sad and unhappy about a fallen
and lost world.
There are legitimate reasons to be unhappy, and it is folly to feel
guilty for them. We could list all of Paul's negative emotions as well,
but it is not necessary, for if our Lord had good reason to be unhappy
with much of life, who can be so presumptuous to expect to live on a
higher emotional level then Him? Anyone who expects to be feeling
happy all the time is trying to live in a world that does not yet exist.
The only way to get there in the present is by insanity and the loss of
touch with reality. Some unhappiness is just part of the price we pay
for living in a fallen world. We have to get it out of our head that Christian
happiness means freedom from all care. If that is the case,
the average cow is happier than the average Christian. It was
because Paul cared so much for the churches that he went through so
many negative emotions of frustration and anxiety.
What we are dealing with here is a paradox. It is the reality of
being able to be miserable and happy at the same time. Paul was
often miserable over the problems in the church, and yet he had an
inner sense of well being that made him happy. This means that
Christian happiness is not always and emotion. One might be
dominated by the weeping with those who weep, and so they would
feel sad at that point. This does not rob them of contentment. Paul
did not have the same emotion when he was feasting with his friends
as he had when he was in the dungeon starving and alone. Paul is not
saying that one is just the same as the other. He would have to be a
pet rock to be in such a state.
Paul had all kinds of emotions, just as Jesus did, but his point is
that he had an attitude of contentment within regardless of his
emotions. When he said that Demas had forsaken him he was feeling
bad about it. He was not indifferent to circumstances and saying its
all fine with him regardless of what was happening.
But even when he felt bad about circumstances, he still had his
contentment in Christ which circumstances could not change. This
calls for great discipline to be truly happy on this level. We get a
glimpse into the depth of what it means to be Christlike by looking at
this inner contentment of Paul. Look at the reasons for why we are so
often discontented in life.
1. Selfishness. We want things to be our way and good for us. When
they are not we are discontent. We will all have some unhappiness
because we always want to get our own way.
2. Envy. This makes us discontent because we see the possessions and
gifts of others almost as if they were stolen from us, and we resent it,and so feel unhappy.
3. Covetousness. We have a strong desire for more than we now
have, and this robs us of the enjoyment of what we do have. No
matter how much we get it is never enough, for there is so much more
to covet. There is always an emptiness that can never be fully filled
because we covet more.
Paul was happy because he did not have to wrestle with these vices.
He had conquered them, and so he was content with his life. A happy
life does depend on our conquering all the temptations of life that fill
us with discontent. This means that it is hard work to be happy, for
you have to die to self and all that the world appeals to in us.
It is important for us to be aware that almost everything that
people do is because they believe it will lead to happiness. The
Prodigal Son did not take his money and go off to live in the pleasure
of sin with any other motive than the desire to be happy. Men just do
not pursue evil for evil's sake. Few if any could care less about
pleasing Satan. All they want is happiness for themselves. Men chose
the path that leads to misery only because they are convinced it leads
to happiness. Sin would have nothing to offer man if it did not hold
out the deceptive offer of happiness.
Satan competes for the souls of men by offering and imitation of
everything God offers for man's true happiness. From the start this
was the case. The first temptation was an offer of greater happiness
by eating the forbidden fruit. Satan is constantly trying to under sell
God, and he offers to men what he claims is greater happiness at less
cost. What the sinner fails to think of is that it is God who does the
ultimate billing, and the cost of Satan's happiness is eternal
unhappiness. No one who really knew the whole story could purchase
temporary happiness at such a cost, but Satan is the master deceiver.
It is the purpose of the Christian to distinguish between the false
happiness of Satan, and the true happiness of God, and then demonstrate
its superiority in life to enlighten men. This is part of what being the light
of the world means.
A college girl told me that non-Christian kids on campus think
that the Christians are dull and boring. A cab driver said he didn't
like church conventions coming to town because Christians come with
the Ten Commandments and a ten dollar bill, and they don't break
either of them. His concept of happiness was the pleasure of sin and
the spending of money. The Christian cannot please men on that
level, but Christians ought to make it clear that it is a joy to be a
Christian. The world should be impressed with Christian happiness.
When the non-Christian says we are all seeking the same thing, we
should agree, but be able to show him that the happiness the
Christian finds in Christ is of a much better quality.
The problem in doing this is simply that Christians have not given
enough thought to what happiness really is, and so they are on the
same level with the world in their search for it in many different
directions. Man is a complex being, and every desire, and every
different kind of disposition leads to a different theory of happiness.
The ancient writer Cicero said that in his day there were 20 rival
opinions concerning the source of true happiness. Varro was able to
enumerate 280 such opinions. There are probably more opinions on
the way to happiness than on any other subject, and the problem is
that there is some truth to every one of them. Happiness has a
thousand faces to match the diversity of personalities, gifts, and
natures. The poetess Priscilla Leonard wrote,
Happiness is like a crystal, Fair and exquisite and clear,
Broken in a million pieces, Shattered, scattered far and near,
Now and then along life's pathway, Lo! Some shining fragments
fall; But there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
You may find a bit of beauty, Or an honest share of wealth,
While another just beside you, Gathers honor, love or health.
Vain to choose or grasp unduly, Broken is the perfect ball;
And there are so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
Yet the wise as on they journey Treasure every fragment clear,
Fit them as they may together, Imaging the shattered sphere.
Learning ever to be thankful, Though their share of it is small;
For it has so many pieces, No one ever finds them all.
There is no doubt that she has in this poem expounded a basic
truth which the Scriptures support. Being a Christian, and receiving
God's best, which is salvation through Jesus Christ does not supply
one with every kind of happiness. The Bible makes it clear that there
are different gifts, and different degrees of talent among Christians.
There is probably no Christian who has ever had everything that can
be had to increase their usefulness and happiness. If we could be
happier with a gain of anything either internal or external, we are not
yet in possession of perfect happiness. Complete happiness is
impossible, therefore, in this life. That is what heaven is all about.
Even Jesus knew sorrow, pain, and grief in His human life, and,
therefore, the Christian goal for this life is never absolute happiness
at any price.
The Christian must recognize the limits of the happiness that can
rightly be theirs in God's will. Sometimes God's will requires us to be
unhappy, and this then brings us back to where we begin, and that is
that Christian happiness is basically internal, and it is in the
character of the Christian. Someone said, "Happiness is not a station
you arrive at, but a manner of traveling." The blessedness Jesus
speaks of in the beatitudes is an internal attitude which completely
contradicts the expected response to the external facts. The direction
of Christian happiness is within rather than external, but because
many pagans have also found this to be the best source of happiness,
the Christian view cannot be that only. Therefore, Pascal says,
"Happiness is neither without nor within us, it is in God, both without
us and within us."
This sounds like a circular argument that says it is neither, and
also both. It does say this, but so as to lift the subject of happiness out
of the realm where man is the center to where God is the center. This
is where the Christian view of happiness becomes distinct. In the
pagan view even their gods are means to human happiness. In the
Christian view happiness for man is not an end in itself, but is a
means to the glory of God. In Christian theology man's chief end is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Glorifying and enjoying God is
the highest happiness man can attain. Man's happiness, therefore, is
only uniquely Christian and Christlike when God receives the glory.
There is never any doubt when you examine the life of Christ as to
who is the center of His life. In His prayer He taught us to say, "Our
Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done." God was the center of His life, the source of His
power, and the end of all His acts. We very subtly are lead into a
sub-Christian view of life when we make God a means to fulfilling our
own ends. The very study of, and longing for, happiness can lead us in
this direction, and, therefore, we must ever keep in mind that the
essence of Christian happiness is in making God and His glory the
end of all we are and all we do.
Ernest M. Ligon in The Psychology of Christian Personality says
that many studies have led to the conclusion that integration of
personality is a basic key to good health in all its aspects, and thus, to
the happy life. What is integration? He writes, "Briefly, integration is
the condition of a personality in which all of te emotional attitudes are
harmonious and mutually helpful, thus permitting all of one's natural
energy to be directed toward one end." This is Paul's, "This one thing
I do." It is the life with one supreme aim and center. Ligon says, "If
an individual can organize his emotional attitudes in such harmony
with one another, that he can direct all of his urges and appetites
about one central purpose, which is always the focus of his interest
and of his attention, we find the peak of efficiency, and the perfect
integration." When God is that central purpose we have arrived at
the highest happiness life can offer on this earth.
I read of a big cat who saw a little cat chasing his tail and he asked
why? "Because I am seeking happiness, and when I catch my tail I
will be happy." The big cat said, "I too have studied happiness and
found it to be in my tail. But I have observed that when I chase it it
keeps running away, but when I go about my business, it just seems to
come after me wherever I go." The point being, the chasing after
happiness can be futile, but just being faithful to your daily duties can
be fruitful in fulfilling your need for happiness. It is not all out there
somewhere, but it is internal, and comes with the satisfaction of a
meaningful life. Paul was not out chasing happiness. Paul was doing
the best he could to fulfill the calling of God, and the result was
contentment in any state. He did not always feel delighted, or happy
in the sense that he never wept, felt angry or frustrated, or even
depressed. But he was happy that he was in the right place doing
what God wanted him to do.
Happiness for Paul was in knowing he was a tool available to God
to minister to human need. It was both internal as a sense of peace
and contentment, and external because of the evidence that he was
being used. People were changed, churches were founded, and the
kingdom was expanding. The externals for Paul were fringe benefits,
however, and his basic happiness was the internal contentment of
being in Christ, and being used of Christ. Someone said, "Happiness
is life a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But
if you turn your attention to others things, it will come and softly sit
on your shoulder."
Happiness comes from within
.Our attitudes are the key.
No matter what circumstance,
Some good we can always see.
Try positive attitudes.
They're so easy to create.
In joy and contentment,
Will be your happy fate.
If you do good to others,
You have made a sure-fire start.
It is almost guaranteed,
To put a smile within your heart.
Catherine Marshall has known the deep sorrows of grief, and
the great unhappiness of life going wrong in so many ways, but she
has known also the joy of success in Christian service. She writes, "I
have observed that when any of us embark on the pursuit of
happiness for ourselves, it eludes us. Often I've asked myself, why?
It must be because happiness comes to us only as a dividend, as a gift
given us by God. When we become absorbed in something
demanding and worthwhile above and beyond ourselves, happiness
suddenly becomes ours as a by-product of the self-giving. That
should not be a startling truth, yet I'm surprised at how few people
understand and accept it. Have too many of us made a god of
happiness? Have we been brainwashed by the magazine and
television ads, featuring happiness?"
She sees most Americans interpreting their right to the pursuit of
happiness to mean the right to grab all the power, money, and
pleasure they can get. This leads to some very non-Christian methods
of being happy. Rights need to be dealt with right, or they become
wrongs. Both Jesus and Paul make it clear that it is more than a right
to be happy, it is a duty. It is part of our commitment to Christ to
overcome all that would make us unhappy. Jeremy Taylor said,
"God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy." Robert Louis
Stevenson said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty
of being happy." If we listen to Jesus and Paul, and follow their
example we will find happiness and contentment by knowing God as
our heavenly Father, and by being committed to that which we know
is His will for our lives.
