Throughout history there has been an ongoing search for happiness. Even with innumerable philosophers and scholars providing theories on this quest, happiness remains elusive for many people. Is it possible to be habitually happy?
Jesus Christ Is the Key to Happiness
Transitioning from Fleeting Happiness to Enduring Joy Through Faith
Finding Lasting Happiness: Insights from Faith
The Challenge: Your Personal Action Plan
Positive psychologists today believe there are three steps to happiness—the “pleasant life” filled with positive emotion, the “good life” where work and play intermesh, and the “meaningful life” where a person uses their character strengths to a larger effort.1 Their view is that happiness lies within the control of each of us.
Ancient philosophers, including Aristotle, believed there were four stages of happiness where contemplation played a role in evaluating each stage.
The first stage is found in material objects, which provide immediate gratification but only temporary pleasure. We can all recognize moments in our life when something exciting brings that type of fleeting pleasure.
The second stage occurs through gratification of one’s ego. Some studies call this comparative achievement. An apt description of this emotion might be when a person experiences gratification from an accomplishment compared to what someone else has achieved.
The third stage emanates from doing good for others and making the world a better place—many Christians know this is true. People do experience pleasure by enhancing the lives of others. Thomas Aquinas wrote that this level of doing service for others contributed to a higher level of happiness compared to not considering the welfare of others.
The fourth stage, the highest level, is described as the ultimate good, the very highest in intellectual thought that is achieved by pursuing truth, goodness, love, and beauty. Aristotle’s end thought—eudaimonia—is happiness that is found through leading a meaningful and virtuous life by the pursuit and achievement of good. He believed that this high pursuit contributed to the perfection of human nature and the enrichment of human life.2
Jesus Christ Is the Key to Happiness
In their pursuit and description of happiness, ancient philosophers and contemporary psychologists both fail to acknowledge this key fact: We are fallen human beings, and on our own initiative, we do not pursue good. We are sinful and selfish human beings. The highest level of happiness is not found in our attempts to be good; it is only found through the ultimate good, the ultimate truth, and the ultimate Man—Jesus Christ. The loving goodness of God offers the only enduring and profound happiness that people seek. To imagine that man in his sinful state could achieve ultimate good on his own is folly. Ultimately, true happiness is tied to the Good News of the Gospel.
Recently there has been a stunning increase in the number of suicides among young adults, shocking their families and friends. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, “Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 24 in the U.S.” “Young people are particularly vulnerable to suicide,” says Carl Fleisher, MD, who served as a specialist in adolescent and child psychiatry at UCLA Health and is now at Boston Child Study Center in Los Angeles. “Teenagers and young adults have had rising rates of suicide compared to 10 or 15 years ago,” Dr. Fleisher says. The statistics also reveal that while suicide rates are rising among young people, the highest rates are among young adults 25 to 34.3
This trend among young adults seems to be more prevalent among individuals who are heavily involved with social media, young men and women who allow the pressures of followers or influencers to affect their self-image and the reality of who they are. Sadly, oftentimes the people who knew them best either personally or professionally had no awareness of their situation because they seemed to have it all—successful jobs, financial security, friends, family, and even fame in some cases. Were they looking for happiness where it couldn’t be found?
Transitioning from Fleeting Happiness to Enduring Joy Through Faith
Happiness is fleeting in this life if we place our trust in what this world values. The world’s idea of happiness is found in possessions, popularity, and prosperity, all of which can be gone in a moment. Putting one’s hope for happiness on the shifting sands of this life is futile, for temporal pleasures have temporal lifespans. But for the Christian there is an unfailing promise that comes from our relationship with Jesus Christ. It ensures an ultimate and deep-seated happiness—it is the joy of the Lord—which brings contentment, hope, and assurance for the future.
The world and its cares, chaos, and confusion can seep into the life of the Christian if we do not develop habits that keep our focus on the One who brings peace into our life. Are you satisfied with your relationship with God? Are you growing spiritually and developing godly character in your personal life? If you are dissatisfied with where you are, turn your thoughts away from the present and look toward making a change for the future. This article is designed to help you develop new habits, unlock your spiritual potential, and keep your eyes on where the joy is found—the true “habitual happiness” that is found in Christ alone.
Finding Lasting Happiness: Insights from Faith
The Bible provides insights into experiencing the inexhaustive joy that is ours as children of God. Here are a few reminders that happiness is not out of reach for you.
- “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” (Psalm 144:15)
- “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).
- “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12, ESV).
- “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
- “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).
- “He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he” (Proverbs 16:20).
- “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
- “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
The Challenge: Your Personal Action Plan
Do you know how ordinary people achieve success? They practice—a lot! This is true whether an individual is a professional athlete, a celebrated singer, a sought-after speaker, or a Christian seeking to draw closer to the Lord. Few people have the dedication to be truly great, but anyone who is successful has worked hard to achieve their success. In her bestselling book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, Angela Duckworth wrote that achieving success is tied to “deliberate practice.” Deliberate practice leads to developing a desired habit.4
Success Through Discipline: The Work Ethic of Tony Gwynn
San Diego’s all-time favorite baseball player is the legendary Tony Gwynn—lovingly known as “Mr. Padre.” He was an integral part of the city during the twenty seasons he played for the San Diego Padres. In fact, he was instrumental in getting the current baseball stadium, Petco Park, built, which opened in April of 2004. For the fans in San Diego, coming to the ballpark to see Tony Gwynn play was a thrill.
Besides his great smile and winning attitude, Tony was known for his incredible work ethic. Throughout his career he maintained the self-discipline of taking extra batting practice to keep improving. At one point in his career, he had concerns about his swing, so he asked his wife to videotape his games. At home he would carefully review his at bats, and his analysis of his swing ultimately helped him improve. His dedication paid off. This hall of famer ended his career with eight National League batting titles—tied for the most in National League history! “Tony Gwynn finished his career with a .338 career batting average, the highest since Ted Williams retired from the Red Sox in 1960 with a .344 average.”5 After playing 2,440 games, he modestly claimed, “I just want to be the best I can be.” This winning attitude paid off for Tony.
Taking Decisive Steps in Your Journey of Faith: Discipline and Focus
The same is true for us in our walk with the Lord. We need to practice doing the right things and to lay aside the things that would distract us from our time with God. It takes decisive action on our part, and an awareness that while we have a friend in Jesus, we have a foe in Satan, who will try to discourage, distract, and deter us from discovering our highest spiritual potential.
Each day we have 24 hours/1,440 minutes to live. Those minutes and hours are fleeting and can never be recalled. When we do the things that matter on a consistent basis, they become a spiritual habit, which draws us closer to the Lord. That is our reward. Does it require self-discipline? Yes, it does, but anything that is worth doing requires both discipline and effort. But the reverse is also true; it takes discipline and effort to quit a negative habit. One unhealthy habit that Tony acquired during his career was an addiction to smokeless tobacco, which caused the cancer that ultimately took his life at the young age of 54. It is a sad reminder that we need to candidly evaluate our habits to determine which ones are constructive and useful and to eradicate any habit that is detrimental to our well-being.
Habitual Happiness in Christ: Cultivating Lasting Joy
As I grow older, I have become more aware of the need to take care of my body, and that requires regular exercise. To help me achieve this goal, I have a personal trainer who puts me through strenuous workouts on a regular basis. Do I always enjoy it? No, but I know that this regimen is necessary to keep doing what I need to do for the Lord. Why do I do it? Because I want to keep getting better at following the Lord. I want to keep getting better at loving my family. I want to keep sharing God’s love with others. To do these things, I need physical strength, which comes from exercise. The same is true in the spiritual realm. If we do not develop spiritual habits, our spiritual life in Christ will atrophy like an unused muscle in our body. So I encourage you to exercise your spiritual muscles. In more than forty years of ministry, I have learned to put my time and emphasis on the things that matter. Everything else needs to be far down on the list of things I need to accomplish.
Each day we make hundreds of decisions—most without conscious thought—such as to eat breakfast or to grab a coffee on the way to work, or to pack a lunch or to skip lunch completely. The fact is that we instinctively make many choices throughout the day, but how many of them draw us closer to God? The choices may seem simple, but they eventually form the pattern for what our days, weeks, months, and even years will look like. Take a moment to reflect on your life and identify the defining moments when everything changed. Defining moments are opportunities for God to challenge us to draw into a closer relationship with Him.
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With this plan, I want to encourage you to make the next year a defining moment, to be intentional about what is important, to make the important things a priority, and to put aside the things that bring discouragement into your life. Make a deliberate choice to pursue habits that will draw you closer to the Lord—the only true Source of joy and happiness. The Bible Reading Plan, provided as a download in this article, will help you read through the Word of God in the coming year. And as you delve into God’s Word each day and practice the habits that follow, you will discover that while the cares of the world are still around you, your focus will be on the One who knows the beginning from the end. Let’s get started!
Sources:
1“Positive Psychology: Different types of happiness,” PBS, https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource-positive-psychology-different-types-of-happiness/.
2Lawrence Evans, “Aristotle’s Guide to Living Well,” Philosophy Now, https://philosophynow.org/issues/151/Aristotles_Guide_To_Living_Well.
3Sandy Cohen, “Suicide Rate Highest Among Teens and Young Adults,” UCLA Health, February 23, 2023, https://www.uclahealth.org/news/suicide-rate-highest-among-teens-and-young-adults.
4Angela Duckworth, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (New York, NY: Scribner, 2016). 5. “Tony Gwynn,” NationalBaseball Hall of Fame, https://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/gwynn-tony.