The Pursuit of Happiness
On July 17th, 2025, Disneyland in Anaheim California will turn 70 years old. Since its inception Walt Disney has coined and marketed the theme park as the “the happiest place on earth!” And every year 17-18 million people visit the park with the hopes of achieving this elusive, euphoric happy feeling.
Yet if you have ever visited Disneyland, you realize happiness is relative. The long lines and wait times for rides, the whiny kids, the hot muggy weather, the small fortune it will cost you to get there, and you realize the pursuit of happiness can be torturous.
Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General announced that Americans have been experiencing a decrease in overall happiness, with loneliness and isolation being national epidemics. Interestingly, statistics show that those who have the most reason to be happy turn out to be the most depressed. We are perhaps the most prosperous nations in the world; twice as rich, a lot healthier, more youthful, and a lot safer than our predecessors were 50 years ago, yet we are NOT getting any happier.
Philosopher Eric Hoffer said it best when he wrote, “The [great American] search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
I believe the reason many people don’t have happiness is because they are searching for the wrong thing. Happiness is something that is temporal, external and a fleeting emotion. Joy, on the other hand, is constant, internal and comes from God. In reality, what humanity is searching for is joy—the feeling of lasting contentment. Thankfully, the Bible tells us our God is the author of joy, the source of joy, and that joy is part of his character. (Psalm 16:11, Romans 14:17)
You may not often think about this, but our God in heaven is a joyful God. And according to Isaiah 62:5 he rejoices over us! “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” In fact, Zephaniah 3:17 tells us, “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!”
One of the unique things about the ministry of Jesus is that it was always surrounded by joy. Wherever he went, he brought joy. This was the promise made about him when he was born. When people encountered Him they left full of joy. In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us “God has anointed him with oil of gladness above his fellows. (Hebrew 1:9) The word gladness is another word for joy. It means “joy that leaps and dances.” Can you imagine that? Jesus leaping and dancing!? That is the kind of joy he has!
Not only is God joyous but he wants us to experience His joy. Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11) In other words, the very joy of God can be in us, and when it is, we will be satisfied and not lacking anything. We will have full contentment.
In the English language “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) is the shortest verse in the bible. Yet in the Greek language the shortest verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” It’s the shortest verse yet with the longest duration. And what God desires for us, he provides for us. We can rejoice always because the joy of the Lord is in us, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.
As we kick off summer, let us be the type of people that are marked and distinguished by the joy of the Lord. If he’s a joyful God, we, as his kids, can and should be joyful also. Let us be the type of people, like our Savior, that are abounding in joy and bringing it into every situation we encounter.
Go forth in joy!
Yet if you have ever visited Disneyland, you realize happiness is relative. The long lines and wait times for rides, the whiny kids, the hot muggy weather, the small fortune it will cost you to get there, and you realize the pursuit of happiness can be torturous.
Recently, the U.S. Surgeon General announced that Americans have been experiencing a decrease in overall happiness, with loneliness and isolation being national epidemics. Interestingly, statistics show that those who have the most reason to be happy turn out to be the most depressed. We are perhaps the most prosperous nations in the world; twice as rich, a lot healthier, more youthful, and a lot safer than our predecessors were 50 years ago, yet we are NOT getting any happier.
Philosopher Eric Hoffer said it best when he wrote, “The [great American] search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”
I believe the reason many people don’t have happiness is because they are searching for the wrong thing. Happiness is something that is temporal, external and a fleeting emotion. Joy, on the other hand, is constant, internal and comes from God. In reality, what humanity is searching for is joy—the feeling of lasting contentment. Thankfully, the Bible tells us our God is the author of joy, the source of joy, and that joy is part of his character. (Psalm 16:11, Romans 14:17)
You may not often think about this, but our God in heaven is a joyful God. And according to Isaiah 62:5 he rejoices over us! “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.” In fact, Zephaniah 3:17 tells us, “He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy!”
One of the unique things about the ministry of Jesus is that it was always surrounded by joy. Wherever he went, he brought joy. This was the promise made about him when he was born. When people encountered Him they left full of joy. In fact, the author of Hebrews tells us “God has anointed him with oil of gladness above his fellows. (Hebrew 1:9) The word gladness is another word for joy. It means “joy that leaps and dances.” Can you imagine that? Jesus leaping and dancing!? That is the kind of joy he has!
Not only is God joyous but he wants us to experience His joy. Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11) In other words, the very joy of God can be in us, and when it is, we will be satisfied and not lacking anything. We will have full contentment.
In the English language “Jesus wept” (John 11:35) is the shortest verse in the bible. Yet in the Greek language the shortest verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” It’s the shortest verse yet with the longest duration. And what God desires for us, he provides for us. We can rejoice always because the joy of the Lord is in us, and the joy of the Lord is our strength.
As we kick off summer, let us be the type of people that are marked and distinguished by the joy of the Lord. If he’s a joyful God, we, as his kids, can and should be joyful also. Let us be the type of people, like our Savior, that are abounding in joy and bringing it into every situation we encounter.
Go forth in joy!
Posted in Notes from Pastor Adrian
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