Turning Fear to FaithChikamu

Day 3: The Pursuit of Happiness

It seems that from the moment we are born, the pursuit of happiness becomes every human’s primary objective. As children, we cry out our demands until we have our parent’s attention. As we mature, most of us shift our tactics, but the end game is still the same: to get what we think we want. From worldly possessions to powerful positions, the human drive is centered inwardly—it’s self-centered. Apparently, eating from the tree of knowledge put that drive within each of us, along with other characteristics like pride and greed. And from there, with the eviction notice served, out of the garden we went.

This search for happiness became our mission, and unless Christ changes us, we continue on that mission until the day we die. Yet no matter how hard a person tries—whether their game plan is to “earn” happiness through good works or to seize it with power plays and intimidation—this search comes up empty. The mission fails. Just ask the wealthiest ruler who ever lived: “What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? . . . All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing” (Ecclesiastes 1:3, 8 NIV).

Because of this, God stepped in at just the right moment in time and said, “Enough! I love you too much to allow your idolatry of self to continue. So I’m sending My Son to show you the way.”

You could say it was the perfect plan as Jesus stepped down from heaven and came to Earth in the humblest of ways. He lived, died, and then rose again, defeating death and providing the only way for human beings to have a heavenly eternity. John 3:16 says it best: “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (NIV).

Placing your trust in Jesus eliminates the compulsion to work your way into heaven (which isn’t possible anyway). It also paves a joyful path to happiness and success. Eternal success, that is.

• Philippians 1:21
• 2 Corinthians 5:15
• 1 John 5:4–5