CHAPTER III

GOD'S PLAN AND PROMISES FOR OUR HAPPINESS

Do you know what happiness is? If you receive a call from a local radio station telling you that you have won a prize and all you have to do to receive that prize was to give the correct definition of happiness, what would you say?

Would you say that happiness is the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow—that it's the end of the race? Maybe, but if you cannot find happiness along the way, you'll never find it at the end of the road.

Perhaps it's the chase that's important to you-Happiness is found in pursuing something. After all, Americans are quick to quote Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

But even the pursuit of happiness leaves many people empty. The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.

Perhaps your understanding of happiness relates to the number of things you possess— the more you have, the happier you are. If you could only get more, think how much happier you'd be! Some people believe in life, liberty, and the purchase of happiness. But if you don't enjoy what you have, how could you be happier with more?

Maybe happiness for you is denying the seriousness of your circumstances. You've convinced yourself that if you look on the bright side, you'll be happy. You're the type who enjoys the scenery on a detour.

But none of these ideas depicts God's view of happiness. True happiness comes not from having much to live on but from having much to live for. Nobody has more to live for than the man or woman who is in the right relationship with Almighty God, and true happiness depends on that relationship..