What is Happiness?
At the end of the Freedom in Christ Course is a section that reviews eight topics that if embraced will make our lives better. Last fall, we went over the first four: Success, Significance, Fulfillment, and Satisfaction (go to www.ficm.org/blog to read them!). Over the next several weeks, we’ll go through the last four topics. First up, Happiness.
The word happiness covers a lot of ground. But contentment certainly is part of it. One of the most memorable statements Steve Goss makes in The Freedom in Christ Course is “happiness is wanting what you already have.” Stop a minute and muse on this. Happiness is wanting what you already have.
My parents were of a previous generation that went through the Great Depression, World War 2, the Korean War, and saw folks go off to the Vietnam War. They were very poor initially and never really felt wealthy. My father often asked if we had had enough to eat, especially when we were younger. He had gone hungry when he was young. It was a potent memory. Through lean times, they soaked themselves with relationships, friendships, and relatives. They were content with simpler pleasures.“Let’s spend a day camping” or “Let’s build a nice fire in the fireplace and sit in front of it to warm up.” They loved to help others.
When I read “happiness is wanting what you already have” it makes me wonder. Do I feel the way my parents did? Contentment seems harder to come by these days. Perhaps we would do well to reconsider how to achieve it. David speaks of contentment in Psalm 131. It reads:
“O Lord, my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things that are too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore.”
Psalm 131:1-3 ESV
Can you feel the calm spread over you as you soak on this? Look at how David arrives at contentment.
He has discovered the beauty of humility (vs 1a). How David can maintain humility in surrounded by his mighty men, impressive deeds, beautiful poems and the distractions of kingship is hard to envision. Yet here he is. Humble before his God, who he knows so well.
He is not tempted to reach for what he cannot have (vs 1b). God didn’t allow him to build the temple. And he had to come to terms with that. God is God and I am not...
He knows his limitations of knowledge and abilities to understand (vs 1c). Of course, he was curious to learn. But his value didn’t depend upon what he could understand. It depended upon God. And his confidence was in God alone.
He makes the choice to quiet himself (vs 2). Yes, it is a choice. In our discipleship program for leaders called TRANSFORM, we talk about the importance of a soul at rest or even “soul rest.” David knew how to quiet his soul. He knew what resting in God really was.
It is upon this four-point path that David calls us to walk. Contentment in the Lord is possible. We need not be driven by our wants, desires, egos, hungry intellect, or passions. We can focus elsewhere. We can focus on the things that we know really matter and trust God that we have what we need in exactly what he has given us, especially in regard to relationships.
Happiness—contentment—is wanting what we already have.