Happiness or Holiness?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16, ESV)
The Declaration of Independence is the most significant piece of writing in our nation’s history. The sentence above reflects the core belief of our nation. Certainly the Christian has little to quibble about over these words. After all, the scriptures have much to say about life and liberty. Jesus came to bring life,even an abundant life and to liberate us from sin and death. But what about happiness? Is this the true pursuit of the Christian? Does God want me to be happy? I believe that he does, but it depends on your definition of happiness. Those who preach a health and wealth gospel make a good living at preaching happiness. Thanks to our appetite for a sugar-coated gospel, they are very happy even if we are not. This is not true happiness. If we want true happiness, I believe it comes when we pursue holiness.
There are many ways holiness can provide us with happiness but let me just focus on four. First, we can find joy because we have been set free from sin. Paul writes in Romans 6:22 “But now that you have been set free from sin and have been slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.” Sanctification is that fancy $10 theological term for making something holy. We have been set free from the bondage of sin and death. And though Paul describes our freedom as slavery to God, this means that we are no longer slaves to sin but are made holy and have the hope of eternal life.
Second, we can find joy in fellowship with God. In Paul’s testimony before Agrippa in Acts 26, he describes his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. He quotes what Jesus himself told Paul regarding his plans for him to preach to the Gentiles; “to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (26:18, ESV) All who are sanctified, or made holy, can expect a place among the saints who will gain access to our heavenly Father.
The third joy we can find is our eternal reward. “The master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:21, ESV) The pursuit of holiness leads us to proper stewardship of all God has given us. When we are good stewards, we see an increase, when there is an increase in God’s resources, he is glorified. His glory should bring us great joy.
These three are made possible by the fourth which is the joy we have that we are made holy for all time. Hebrews 10: 10 and 14 bear this out; “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all…For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” We are no longer under the curse. We do not need to repeatedly offer inadequate sacrifices for our sin. Christ died once for all, for all time.
Happiness can be a fleeting thing. What we think will make us happy does so for only a short time. We flit from one thing to the next looking for something to keep us happy. True happiness is not temporary. True happiness is eternal. True happiness is holiness.
