On Your Mark…

Is America happy?  Are you?

You probably saw the ‘happiest country’ statistics that came out a few months ago.  Finland #1. Denmark #2. Denmark is even the home of “The Happiness Museum.”  USA is #24 - it’s lowest ranking ever, behind Israel and Ireland - even Iceland is happier than us.  Not surprisingly, Afghanistan, with all its problems, is the least happy country in the world.

We’re all in an endless search for happiness, aren’t we?  When it comes down to it, isn’t that what most people really want?  However, it’s common for people to think they’re ‘not quite happy enough.’ Most of us reason, ‘when I get this, when I do that, when I’ve been there… then I’ll be happy!’  Sometimes that is true.  When we reach targeted goals, psychologists call that, ‘partial, temporary happiness’.  But reaching goals rarely carries over for a lifetime of sustained, deep, lasting satisfaction.

The famous writer Augustine’s early life was a quest for happiness.  He finally found it in a deep relationship with God.  C. S. Lewis found his deepest joy when he realized, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” That led him to explore the God of all ages (and the true joy that comes to us through His Son, Jesus Christ).

The Bible points us toward the happiness we all want. It explains that emptiness in life comes from being separated from the God who made us and loves us. And the truest road to a life of lasting joy awakens when that connection with God through Jesus Christ.  Does that mean His followers are happy, happy, happy all the time?  Far from it.  There is no magic pill or powder to avoid the messy pain and suffering we all stumble over on life’s bumpy path.  But Christians believe that God is with them in the dark times, and that He is big enough to even be at work bringing something good out of the pain at the other end.

Oddly enough, those ‘happy stats’ also tell us that younger people are much less happy than the elderly. It concludes that the 40’s are the least happy years, and the 70’s are the happiest, generally speaking.  Doesn’t that seem odd?  All those devices, all that energy of youth, all that promising future, but less happy.  A visit to the Happiness Museum might make them feel better for a bit, huh?  But the real answer isn’t there, either. The God who gives all of us life, and loves us, challenges us to open up our lives to Him: “I have loved you with an everlasting love…” Jeremiah 31:1 Finding that love, forgiveness and peace are the surest ways to real happiness - no matter what your home country ranking is!

If you don’t have a church home, check us out at Chinese Community Church, 10:30 am every Sunday. Come as you are and bring the family- we have classes for kids. Forget Disneyland- a healthy church, God’s Family- that’s the happiest place on Earth!

Pastor Mark 

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