The Basis of True Happiness

            So often in our world today, people think they will achieve true happiness by having more of something that they either do not own, or do not think they have enough of.  This attitude of discontentment leads to many misconceptions about happiness.  Our humanistic society has changed the perspective from which most people view happiness.  God never intended for us to seek out a physical item to get happiness!  He wants us to come to Him, and follow Him to have true happiness.  How do we do this?

            First of all, we must realize that God’s universal inward ideal for each one of us is to take on the character of Christ.  This character is displayed in the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus is discussing the beatitudes.  Matthew 5:3-12 reads:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. “

The word “blessed” means “supremely blest…fortunate, well off:  happy”¹  From the verses above, we can see that to be truly happy, we must take on the character that Christ displayed.  We must be humble, we must mourn, we must be meek, spiritually hungry, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, and have a willingness to be persecuted.  As the character of Christ is displayed in our life, we will receive God’s blessing, resulting in true happiness.

1.  (Dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek Words taken from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., 1890.  Greek Lexicon 3107)