American’s have been in “pursuit of happiness” ever since 1776. Christians have been tracking it even longer. From the Garden of Eden to the Shores of America (and every place in between), mankind has always been dominated by a concern to be happy.
Everybody Wants To Be Happy…
Blaise Pascal (1600’s; French Mathematician) recognized this universal hunger for happiness long before American’s declared their intent to pursue it: “All men seek happiness” he wrote, “This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves”.
Whether a person goes to war, like Josiah did (II Chr.35:20-23), stays home from it like King David (II Sam 11:1), or hangs himself like Judas Iscariot (Mt.27:5), the desire is the same. Adam thought he could find happiness in a wife; Eve thought she could find it in a fruit. The entire human race has been chasing happiness since the beginning, and we’re still in hot pursuit of it, even now. Pursuing happiness is one thing; finding it is another.
In 1987, Irish rock band U2 released a song that would eventually become one of the “greatest tracks of all time”. In it, front man Bono speaks for most of us when he sings, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”.
Only Some People Want To Be Holy…
Unlike happiness, holiness isn’t as popular among earthlings. Isn’t it noteworthy that Blaise Pascal never said the same thing about holiness that he did about happiness? That’s because, on the whole, people concern themselves far more with being happy than they do with being holy. Judas, for example, sacrificed his very life to be happy, but wouldn’t pay 30 pieces of silver when it came to being holy.
Would it help to know that your happiness has everything to do with your holiness? John Phillips wrote, “Happiness and holiness always go hand in hand, and the reason we see so little genuine happiness among men is because there’s so little holiness”.
As citizens of an otherworldly Kingdom, however, pursuing holiness is what’s expected of us. Our King, in fact, told us to “Be holy, as I am holy”. We’re missing the mark entirely if we let ourselves pursue happiness apart from holiness. God withholds joy from those with no interest in being like Him.
Pursuing Either, Finding Neither…
While some never find happiness in spite of their reckless pursuit of it, there are others who have given up the chase altogether. They’re more interested in holiness. Some Christians are in such hot pursuit of piety that they just don’t care anymore whether they’re happy or not. They pursue sanctity with all the vim & vigor as the world pursues happiness. Only, instead of pursuing happiness to the neglect of holiness, they pursue holiness at the expense of happiness.
Asceticism finds its way into the church just as easily as Hedonism does. They just come in through different doors. But they’re equally capable of leaving their victims feeling hopeless.
Maybe that’s why Bono’s been singing the same thing for the last 33 years.
Following Jesus, Finding Both…
It hardly matters whether we’re pursuing happiness at the expense of holiness, or vice versa, the problem is always the same: We’re focused on ourselves rather than on the One who holds the keys to our deepest desires. Jesus’ followers won’t get what they want out of life by pursing them, but by following Him. All other pursuits (including happiness or holiness) are going to tire you out eventually. Only those who exhaust themselves in the pursuit of Jesus Himself will truly know what it means to rest.
Once we stop following Christ to pursue something else, we’re bound to get lost. And we’ll end up with neither happiness nor holiness. Those who faithfully pursue Him, however, will one day be rewarded with both, according to His promise: “Happy and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!” (Rev.20:6).
Have You Still Not Found What You’re Looking For?
So what, exactly, are you looking for? Are you pursuing happiness to the neglect of holiness, or holiness at the expense of happiness? Some people will spend their whole lives chasing these things. Others will die in their pursuit of them. But everybody, without exception wants something out of life, and that includes you.