It’s not about the ‘pursuit of happiness’

You would think going after a goal and achieving that goal would bring about the happiness we desire. I suppose it does to some degree. You set a goal because you have a desire for the satisfaction it will bring. But how many times do we seek something, and then attain it, only to find that it wasn’t what we thought it was.

The goals we set for ourselves are so elusive sometimes. Even getting to where we want to be can be a never-ending challenge. And many times we never get there. This makes it difficult to know whether this will even make us happy. We set these goals for ourselves thinking we’ll be happy when we get there. But how do we really know? Is it just a belief we have? Believing in something we don’t yet see? Almost like a faith? Hmmm. I say this, sort of tongue-in-cheek, because some people denigrate others with faith. Yet, they don’t realize that they have a faith, of sorts, themselves. They are believing in something that they can’t see. But they are often believing in the wrong thing.

Anyway, if we have beliefs like this, then we should examine some of these things to see if they make sense. Those endgames we have in mind—Do they bring about the result we expected? Maybe we have it backwards. We’re pursuing the happiness and not the thing which results in happiness. It’s interesting that our Declaration of Independence talks about the ‘pursuit of happiness’. I actually think they might have misstated that. Maybe they should have said the ‘pursuit of what brings about happiness’. But I understand, it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Maybe they had to shorten it up for marketing purposes.

Really, happiness is a byproduct and not an end in itself. So when you just pursue the happiness, it eludes you. We really become happy when we are fulfilling the purpose we were meant to fulfill. Maybe we should find out what we were meant to do and pursue that. I would say, “Don’t worry about the happiness so much.” When we fulfill our purpose, then the fulfillment comes. And fulfillment will often lead to the happiness. Many times we don’t think about these things. Many of us are running around pursuing happiness without realizing we’re pursuing the wrong thing.

So, the ‘pursuit of happiness’? What do we do with that? Well, let’s just chalk it up to an oversight on the part of our founding fathers. I’m sure they had a lot on their minds. But as for us today, maybe we just need to shift our perspective. We can start asking ourselves the questions about the purpose for which we were meant, or meant to pursue. But this has even deeper connotations to it. If we were meant to fulfill a purpose—whose purpose? And if we have a purpose—who determines that?

…Let’s go deeper

What God has in mind is for us is to seek Him first. The pursuit of things in this life was never meant to provide us with true happiness and fulfillment. We need to be seeking the source of life rather than the benefits of life.
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AV Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” God knows that we need Him. The problem is that we often forget this fact. We end up being mesmerized by all the things we see around us and begin pursuing those things. We forget that these things aren’t the source of life. They can never bring us happiness or fulfillment. They can never fill that God-shaped void in our hearts. Only He was meant to fill that void. When we try to fill it with other things, it just doesn’t work.

AV Psalms 37:3-5: “Trust in the LORD, and do good; [so] shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring [it] to pass.” Our relationship with Him begins when we start to trust Him. That starts with us trusting Him as our Savior and Lord. But it begins to grow from there. We learn to trust Him more and more. As we learn to trust Him we learn that He is trustworthy. We learn about Him. We begin to delight in Him and the relationship and not just the things He can give us. We become a committed believer in Him when we become firmly rooted and grounded in His love. We have a knowledge and experience with Him that supersedes everything else. We aren’t in it just for what we can get because we realize that when we have Him we don’t need anything else. Whatever else we need He will take care of it. We can commit our needs and desires to Him.

AV Psalms 27:8: “[When thou saidst], Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.” Why do we seek His face? Because we want to seek Him and who He is. We don’t want to just seek His hand. The fulfillment of our desires is realized when we truly know Him. Seeking His hand is just seeking what He can do for us. Seeking His face is really seeking Him and who He is. See, it’s about a relationship. It’s not about a transaction. So we need to stop pursuing the happiness, and start pursuing the source of happiness.

AV Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

AV Psalms 27:8: “[When thou saidst], Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.”