Don't Let Your Chance for Happiness Slip Away

By Alexandra Copeland 

The one thing that we know about happiness for sure is that it can’t be gleaned from making a lot of money or becoming famous. There have been enough examples out there to prove that this is true. Happiness isn’t dependent on what kind of job we have, or the expression of our creative abilities. As a matter of fact, the older we become the more we’ll realize that our personal happiness isn’t based on anything external. God created us in such a way that we live from the inside out. This is a spiritual truth that many know, but ignore. Looking outside ourselves for what can only be found within will not lead to happiness. This practice is the major reason that, even among Christians, the number of individuals who say they have unhappy lives is surprisingly high. 

It doesn’t matter who you are, your background, or where you’ve come from, there are only two options when it comes to living out our lives. They are to walk by faith or to walk by sight. Either we will choose the path of faith that God has laid by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, or we will adopt a take-it-as-it-comes point of view, and only believe in what we can see. God’s desire is clear. He tells us in 2Corinthians 5:7 that Christians are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight. As we grow and mature, most of us will encounter situations and circumstances where walking by faith isn’t always the easiest choice. This is never more true than in our relationships, and in the hopes and dreams that we have for ourselves. 

Fear is the antithesis of faith. It is easier to fear than to have faith, but fear is a serious enemy of our happiness. Fear is being afraid of something dangerous or something that we think might cause us pain. It is being afraid of punishment. All of us have it to some degree, and in His Word, God has given us a divine directive to spend our lives working to overcome fear with His love. In 1John 4:18 (NIV), He tells us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” This is an extremely important piece of knowledge to a life of happiness.  

At the core of our beings, we all have a place that we’ve yet to tap into. In this place, there’s some good stuff, but there’s some not-so-good stuff as well. There’s some pain and fear that we’ve never confronted. Many of us have encountered extreme disappointment and heartbreak, and as a result, went into self-preservation mode. Subconsciously or not, we’ve closed off that side to keep ourselves from experiencing the trauma of pain again. Not only are we trying to keep the pain out, we’re also not allowing the love of God to come in and heal us in those broken places.  

Most of us know individuals that walk around sad and unfulfilled. They are looking for love in all the wrong places, thinking that happiness is in what we do rather than who we are through Christ. They may have plenty of money in the bank and be successful by all accounts, but they don’t treat people with respect and lack the ability or motivation to value and nurture their relationships. What do you think their legacy will be? When we’ve transitioned to the next life, the greatest thing that anyone can say about our lives on earth is that we loved God and honored His Word. Our every happiness hangs on living a life of love, and we can only achieve this by loving God and loving others through Him.  

Romans 12:1-2(NLT) is our chance for happiness. In this verse, God tells us, “1 And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” In verse 1, God lovingly begs us to present our total being before Him as a living sacrifice. He’s telling us not to hold back anything. Despite the hurts and disappointments of the past, no matter how much pain they’ve caused us, and may be still causing us, God tells us to bring it all to Him. 

1Peter 5:7(NLT) tells us, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” When you give this some thought, you can’t help but see the overwhelming love Heavenly Father has for us. He knows we’re not perfect, and that we’ve had some setbacks, but fear isn’t the path to take. We don’t have to look anywhere but on the inside of us to find all that we need. Our treasure is the person of the Holy Spirit. He’s the path to true happiness, and He lives within.

In Romans 12:2, God tells us exactly how to get off the path of fear and pain, and switch to the path of love. He tells us not to copy the behavior and customs of the world; not to do what we see everyone else doing. This is our choice. It’s a choice for love and happiness. When we make this choice, God said that HE will transform us as we change the way we think. 

  

He’s not going to plug new thoughts into our heads and take out all the bad ones. He has told us to change the way we think, and the indwelling Holy Spirit will help us to walk in God’s good, pleasing, and perfect Will for our lives. We have a chance every day to get excited about the newness that Jesus Christ has made available to us. God formed us with His love. If we’re born again, this is what we’re made of. We don’t have to be conformed to this world, and doomed to live beneath our privilege. Heavenly Father presents us with a chance for happiness each day. If we will breach the walls of our pain and disappointments, and trust Him, we’ll tap into a spiritual place that leads to everlasting joy and happiness. ■ 

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide. 

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.