Many today seek happiness. Many say the ultimate goal of life is happiness. Many say that only you can make yourself happy. Many say that all they want is to be happy. People say a lot of things.... But saying does not make it so. All these are lies, compromises from God's best.
Happiness is based on happenings. What happens to you makes you happy or sad. Happiness is a feeling, based on the body and soul. Trouble is, you are not in Control of happiness because you can not control happenings. You can not control your own happiness, because that would require controlling the world and how it treats you. You can't. Even if you could, happiness is fleeting, undependable, and unsatisfying. It is a feeling and feelings do not last.
Joy, now that's different. Joy is in the heart, the spirit. It is a state of being, not a feeling. It is deep, lasting, dependable, solid. Joy comes from knowing truth, from walking in the right path. Happenings make no difference, they can not shake joy because joy is not based on the world, but on your relationship to God.
Man was made for God. Our purpose in being is to please him. Our design is to be connected to our creator and thereby find meaning and joy. We are complete only when walking with god on a daily basis, and only then are we at peace. There is a hole, an emptiness inside each of us, deep in our hearts, that can only be filed by God's spirit and only by invitation. We must invite him in.
Then the hole is filled, we are complete, we are at peace, we find joy, and nothing in the world can change that. Period.
Money, sex, popularity, recreation, friends, spouse, children, things, all these bring happiness for a time, a short time, but they can not fill that hole in our heart. They are things of this world and can make our body and soul happy for a time. They can not touch our heart that is reserved for our creator.
Seek joy, enjoy happiness. Know that happiness comes and goes over time. Joy is constant. Enjoy happiness when it is present, but don't depend on it, don't base your life on it. Find the joy that God is waiting to bring you as a free gift from him. Depend on that to carry you through this life and the next. Joy... Is the goal of life.
