Happiness Is a Byproduct

        “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is a well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence. The phrase gives three examples of the unalienable rights which the Declaration says have been given to all humans by their Creator, and which governments are created to protect. The unalienable rights are defined as: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

        These rights are “unalienable,” meaning that is something that can’t be transferred or taken away. The source of these rights is carefully noted as being “endowed by their Creator,” meaning God is the source enabling these unalienable rights. Government is not their source, they are a gift from God. They are a birthright which the government is to perpetuate.

        Let’s focus on one of these rights: “the pursuit of happiness.”

        One Cajun is reputed to have said, “I may not catch that happiness, but I am going to chase the fool out of it.” Most people agree.

        If going to pursue a thing it is good to clearly know what it is. Dictionaries define it as “An agreeable feeling or condition of the soul arising from good fortune or propitious happening of any kind, the possession of those circumstances or that state of being which is attended with enjoyment; contentment; joyful satisfaction; felicity; blessedness. It is a good feeling. It is much to be desired.

        It is often associated with, but not always assumed that it is the fleeting feeling giving place to giddy laughter. 

        Practically, it is the beautiful byproduct of a job well done. It is the payoff for achievement.

        Before going further it is expedient to expose a misconception. Money can’t buy happiness.  Research shows: to a certain level, money can buy happiness if you are very poor. Money can give you the ability to meet your basic needs. But once those basic needs are met, and once you have a basic aspect of security in your life, more money won’t make you happy.

        Many feel like the person who said, “Okay, money can’t buy happiness. But, I’d still like to have a lot so I can enjoy my misery all the more.” 

        In summary the teachings of Jesus are that what is going on inside us is more important than what is going on around us. Thus, happiness is an inside job. 

        God is not so concerned with our happiness, but with our holiness.

        Happiness is not in yourself. Jesus himself said that if you want to find happiness you have to lose your life to find it. A life surrendered to Jesus is a fertile field in which happiness grows. Happiness is not found in seeking it, but in surrendering to the Lord; the byproduct is happiness. 

        “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4), and “in your presence is fullness of joy, and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).