Everybody is in some way pursuing the same goal: they want to be happy. Many mistakenly think that money will bring happiness. So they strive for as much wealth as possible and come up empty. Others seek happiness in positions of power or by acquiring desired possessions, but again the results are short lived and disappointing. Still others turn to the vices of sin such as alcohol, drugs, and the various forms of promiscuous sex resulting with the same disappointment. If these are not the way to happiness, how can a person be happy?
True happiness, the kind that swells up into your heart and brings the satisfaction in life that you are looking for, comes from two practices. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. (Psalms 119:1-2)
A person will experience happiness that comes from God when they do not allow themselves to be defiled by the world around them. As they engage in life, these individuals battle to keep their acts aligned with God’s law and resist following the wrong examples set by the world. The second practice, which produces happiness, is to keep God’s word in your heart and to seek him with it. The word keep carries the idea of guarding or watching over something. If we guard the testimonies of The Lord in our hearts, it will enable us to seek him with our whole heart. This keeping and seeking brings the happiness that each person desires. We were created by God and because of that our happiness is dependent upon that relationship with him.
If you drift from this relationship, you drift from happiness. If you depart from following God’s laws and become defiled by the world, you lose happiness. Happiness can be obtained by the rich, poor, all nationalities, all age groups and intellects. God wants everybody to have it and everyone can by following two steps: stay true to God’s laws while resisting being defiled by the philosophy of the world and guard God’s testimonies in your heart.
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