The Pursuit of Happiness

Sounds like paradise, a rather rational expectation from life. Thomas Jefferson and our country’s founding fathers claimed its pursuit as our “inalienable right” [Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776], and even inked it as a self-evident truth within our nation’s Declaration of Independence.

Why… who wouldn’t want this? Who hasn’t wanted this? But at best it can feel very much like a journey, often of great distance and time, and regularly with laborious angst. You would think that our postmodern and westernized era, now more than ever in human history, would afford a quick and easy ascent. Yet just when we think we might have a grip on it, it seems to flee like wind in a fist. And I’ve seen that the elusive nature of this quest isn’t unique to the un-American or even the unregenerate, the unredeemed. No, it’s as if the proverbial “living the dream” can be just that, only a dream… for everyone, even many who claim to follow and love the One who provides “rest for your souls” [Matthew 11:29c (ESV)] and “joy (that’s) complete” [John 15:11b (NIV)]. I am living testimony.

And I’ve seen that the elusive nature of this quest isn’t unique to the un-American or even the unregenerate, the unredeemed. No, it’s as if the proverbial “living the dream” can be just that, only a dream… for everyone, even many who claim to follow and love the One who provides “rest for your souls” [Matthew 11:29c (ESV)] and “joy (that’s) complete” [John 15:11b (NIV)]. I am living testimony.

And so I’ve pondered… “Is happiness really an attainable pursuit in this life?” Maybe the better question is, “Is it even the right pursuit?” And if it is attainable then, “Really?” “How and where?”

You know, as much as I revere the Mr. President (Jefferson) and his brilliance, his claim to “truth” as “self-evident” doesn’t seem so evident to me. But THE Truth [cf. John 14:6; John 17:17], from a God who speaks [cf. Hebrews 1:1-2], from a God who “is true” [John 3:33c (ESV)] and “cannot lie” [Titus 1:2b (NASB); cf. Numbers 23:19], delivers His own self-evidence with ascendant authority [cf. Luke 6:46; I Thessalonians 2:13] (even over the likes of our country’s framers). So it’s got to be there (in the Bible) that I look to the pure answers to my own questions, for “The words of the Lord are pure words” [Psalm 12:6a (ESV)]. You see, the Bible says,

Happiness Is Attainable:

“Blessed is…” “Blessed are…” In other words, “joyful, fulfilled, satisfied, glad, and even happy… is, or are”. These words are brimming throughout the Bible, especially as found in the Psalms and Proverbs, not to mention Jesus’ own words from the Sermon on the Mount [Matthew 5:3-12]. And they are present tense realities, not just future tense hopes.

Now… these are thunderous statements, deafening claims, shocking truths. Why? Because, deep down, we know that we don’t always feel this way. And the older we get, we sometimes find it even harder to experience. The realities and the hardships and the marathon of life have a way of grinding us down, and dulling the degree to which we sense happiness – leading us to possibly conclude, “Not in this life”. But “feeling pleasure”, as a legendary American institution, Merriam-Webster, might define happiness, and which we 1st-World Christians often use to validate our degree of it, is not the measuring stick by which we should determine its presence. Our laughter and smiles and good moods might sometimes be a byproduct, but they’re not the barometer we should gauge our happiness against. Which is why the Bible says…

Happiness (in and of itself) is a Misguided Pursuit:

Why? Because true happiness, Biblical happiness, is always the offshoot of something that’s imbedded much deeper. It doesn’t depend upon everything going well in our lives. And when pursued as the end-all/be-all, it’s flighty because it’s built around ever-changing circumstances, shifting like the grains of sand on a seashore – they’re superficial, with no depth or foundation. That’s why the Preacher can write, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven… a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” [Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 (ESV)].

His words don’t negate the truth of real happiness, they authenticate it with the acceptance that life happens and that to mask its reality as if it doesn’t occasionally hurt only highlights that our pursuit of happiness was perhaps misdirected in the first place. And that’s also why the Psalmist can write, “Blessed is the man… He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not whither.” [Psalm 1:1a, 3a (ESV)]

His roots run deep into something other than what the seasons bring, whether a bone-chilling winter or scorching hot summer. And here’s the astonishing astonishment of it all… it’s actually the most unseasonable of seasons that force us to draw nourishment (find happiness) from something other than what’s happening to us, or to even try to draw it from ourselves. Which is why the Bible says that…

Happiness Is Found When Not Pursued:

Since the pursuit of happiness (in and of itself) is a misguided pursuit, its antithesis is that it’s met only when the pursuit is for something greater than happiness itself. Astutely, French historian Alexis de Tocqueville (when studying our once 19th Century America) realized that, “Sixty years is too brief a compass for man’s imagination. The incomplete joys of this world can never satisfy his heart.” [de Tocqueville, Alexis, (1835) “Democracy in America”, Translated by Arthur Goldhammer (The Library of America, 2004), 342.] Pursue happiness and you’re unhappy. But those who are happy are those who stop working so hard at being happy, because… they’re seeking something far greater. And this is why Jesus can say, “

Pursue happiness and you’re unhappy. But those who are happy are those who stop working so hard at being happy, because… they’re seeking something far greater. And this is why Jesus can say, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [Matthew 6:33 (ESV)] (Emphasis mine.)

Happiness, true happiness, Biblical happiness will never, ever be found in our “Sweet land of liberty” [Smith, Samuel Francis, America, (My Country, Tis of Thee), 1831, 1st Stanza.], or anywhere else in this world or in anything this world has to offer. What’s the Number #1 thing that can make us happy? The perfect relationship? The nice house? The healthy life? The successful career? The 4.0 GPA? The big bank account? No, not even close; they’ll deceive and they’ll elude. Rather, it’s found in another world, another kingdom…

The Kingdom where Jesus reigns. [cf. Ephesians 1:20; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 1:3] And this Kingdom is here already [cf. Matthew 4:17], found in the person of Jesus. And once discovered, “Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart…” [Keller, Timothy, Counterfeit Gods (New York: Penguin Group, USA, Inc., 2009), 172-173.], so that He’s not pursued in order to find happiness, but that happiness is found in pursuing Him, and loving Him... above all else. Hence, “… happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue… as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. [Frankl, Viktor, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 1959), 16-17.] “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” [Lewis, C. S., Mere Christianity (New York: Harper Collins, 2001), 134.]

Frankly, I must conclude that, irrespective of what our country’s Declaration of Independence says (which we honorably celebrate this month), I am not entirely certain what I have a right to and what I don’t; so I’m going to presume I have none, including a right to happiness or even the pursuit of it. But as a lover of Jesus, I will continue to first fight with a pursuit of Him until my dying last and then, and only then, accept happiness along the way. Will you join me? Come one, come all.

“Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song.
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.”
[Smith, Samuel Francis, America, (My Country, Tis of Thee), 1831, 3rd Stanza.]

Thomas Kruggel is a non-vocational Elder at Grace Bible Church
and works in the City of San Francisco