What is happiness? A mother said she wants her daughter to have smooth life without any trouble. A man said he wants to save all the money he needs for the retirement. Another man said he wants to have a pain-free life with healthy body to the end.
How you define true happiness for your life results in the direction of pursuing it.
If a student wants to be happy with one-time success in the exam, he can memorize the answers for questions within a short time and forget them all after the test. However, we grew up understanding life is not just for one or several tests but a marathon to persevere to run toward to the bigger goal.
What is the ultimate goal for humans from God’s perspective?
The Bible says, “…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV)
All the temporary happiness from smooth journey, money, and health will fade away when we walk toward the end of the life. What we can bring to the eternal life is only by knowing who our Creator, Savoir, and Lord is so that we will desire to live forever with Him. The trouble in this life may give us hard time, but it also gives us an opportunity to seek the way out of the doom.
If you are a reborn Christian, your life is truly happier in three ways (*see note):
1. You know all your guilt has been removed because Jesus Christ paid the price of being condemned guilty on the cross.
2. The bitterness permeating in your soul is removed by the power of Jesus Christ and is replaced with joy of praise through Holy Spirit.
3. Your inner life is being transformed by the work of Holy Spirit living within you.
So I pray: Lord, God, a life not given to great things is not worth living. We thank You for risking Your only Son’s life to redeem our lives. May You give us vision and courage to risk our earthly life for pursuing the heavenly greatness. Our aim is not historical influence, but eternal impact. Then, we will press on toward the goal to win the prize You call us to receive.
*Read more from Pastor John Piper’s sharing about happiness and taking risk for life: