Title: What is true happiness?
Contents
What is true happiness?
Ecclesiastes 6: 3- 12
There was global rejection. He was a man who ran frantically to raise money. I used to tell people, "I live for money. I live for myself." But in his later years he got money, but he lost his happiness. Like a grain of sand slipping through his fingers, after losing his happiness and joy, this person only knew that the true value of life was not in possessions, but in sharing. Only then did this man donate his fortune to the YMCA, YWCA, and the University of Chicago. From that moment on, his heart overflowed with joy and vitality. It's about finding the happiness you've lost. This man is Rockefeller. The joy of giving is greater than the joy of receiving. The joy of receiving is temporary, but the joy of giving always remains.
“I knew that there is nothing better for a man than to rejoice and do good while he lives” (Ecclesiastes 3:12).
In 1804, the youngest brother of Emperor Napoleon of France, while traveling to the United States, met a woman named Betsy Padderson from Baltimore. She was recognized as one of the most beautiful women in America at the time, and her beauty and charm were well known even in high society in Europe. The two fell in love and got married. How happy would Betsy Padderson be, not only to possess the most beautiful beauty in America, but to now become the wife of the younger brother of Emperor Napoleon of France? However, it is clear from her next letter that her beauty, worldly fame, and wealth did not make her feel truly happy. This is part of a letter that Batsy sent to her best friend in America when she was middle-aged.
"I'm dying of boredom and boredom. I'm tired of reading, I'm just tired of wasting time. I'm too old to exercise and I'm not having any fun. People compliment me on how beautiful I am. and invites you to various parties and proms, but now I have lost interest in them and everything is just trivial."
Even if you live twice as many as a thousand years, even if you have beauty and wealth, you will not feel true pleasure in the world...
So what is the real pleasure in life? If you do not have God in your heart and do not have the joy of eternal life, even if you have everything in the world, you cannot escape from the image of this woman.
“You saints, fear the LORD, and those who fear him lack nothing” (Psalm 34:9).
There was a man who had astronomical fortune. He had 3,321 beautiful women as concubines. They had 616 children. The conditions for happiness that people think were wealth, power, pleasure, and health. However, at the moment of his death, he made a shocking confession that only 14 days were the days of true happiness in his life. It is the story of Abdullahman III, who ruled the Saracen Empire for 49 years in the 9th century AD.
“He who loves silver is not satisfied with silver, and he who loves abundance is not satisfied with income. This too is vain” (Ecclesiastes 5:10).
Pascal said this. “The happiest people in this world are those who have God in their hearts.” John Wessler said, "There is no happiness apart from God." Abraham Lincoln said, "Happiness is not in us. It is not outside of us. Happiness lies in our union with God.”
The Bible says
“Blessed are the people who make the LORD their God” (Psalm 144:5).
"I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord, and I have no good besides you" (Psalm 16:2).
1. We must live in pursuit of what brings true joy to the soul.
Evangelist Solomon, throughout this book, says that even if people get riches on this earth, health, long life, honor, glory, and all kinds of worldly pleasures, they will never give them eternal satisfaction. That's right. The material and physical possessions and pleasures enjoyed in the world, no matter how many and excellent they are, do not bring pleasure in the soul, that is, the joy and happiness of the soul, to a human being who lives a short and short life. Therefore, brothers and sisters, I ask that you eat the spiritual food from heaven that guarantees true happiness and joy to our souls and live for the beautiful glory and happiness of the kingdom of heaven (John 6:47-58). If you keep trying to satisfy your soul's thirst with earthly things, your soul will feel even greater despair.
2. We must live by pursuing what our eyes cannot see.
People live with many plans and hopes in their hearts. But most of these things are worldly things that we want to accomplish on this earth. Therefore, even if all these things are accomplished, since life ends in death (Hebrews 9:27), human beings have no choice but to leave this world empty-handed (Ecclesiastes 5:15). We can confirm that work is by no means a permanent gratification of man himself. But, saints, do not be discouraged. If we hold fast to God's promises with the eyes of faith and the eyes of faith and live with a greater hope in them, the futility of life can be overcome. Faith in seeing with the eyes of the soul is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11: 1).
3. We must live while looking at the Almighty and Absolute God.
Happiness is not within us. It's not just us either. Happiness lies in our union with God. If we want to find satisfaction and enjoy joy and peace on this earth, we will end up only experiencing emptiness and despair. Therefore, we believers should turn their eyes to see that there is an absolute savior who can ultimately solve life's problems. Indeed, we must be able to clearly realize the limitations of this world that will only provide despair along with our own limitations that will end in death, and look to God, the only Almighty and absolute Savior. Because only through Him can the fundamental problems of life be completely solved, and salvation and eternal joy can be attained only through Him. (Hos 12:6) Do humans truly deny themselves and look to Almighty God, or not? The eternal future will be decided by eternal life or eternal death.
Dear saints, This world can never give us eternal satisfaction or eternal joy. If we expect it, it will only disappoint us and make our lives miserable. Therefore, the people of our God should not only live for the sake of the body, but live in pursuit of what brings true joy to our souls. And we should not simply pursue what we see with our eyes, but live for the spiritual things in heaven that we cannot see with our eyes. Not only that, we should not look at ourselves or the world, but look at God, the Almighty and eternal Savior, and solve our problems in life. Only when God is with us and we walk with God can you taste true happiness and possess the kingdom of heaven where eternal happiness is guaranteed.
We must make the Lord, who is the source of happiness, the guide in our lives. (Psalm 33:12, Revelation 1:3, Proverbs 16:20)
I pray that you will have God in your hearts and become happy in life and the victor of faith by giving thanks in all things.