133 Sermon Illustrations on Happiness

Happiness, it is safe to assume, is something everybody wants to have. It’s true that other people can give you pleasure, but you will never be happy until you do things for other people. Nothing brings more joy and happiness than doing things for others that increase their enjoyment of life.

Studies reveal that people who are absorbed in tasks they enjoy and find challenging have taken a step toward happiness. Researchers have long recognized that people (particularly males) who are married are happier and live longer. People who are on a regular exercise program, keeping themselves physically in shape … are happier.

An article in Psychology Today specifically states that one way to be happy is to “take care of the soul.” The article points out that actively religious people tend to report more happiness and to cope better with crises. Faith provides a support community, a sense of life’s meaning, a reason to focus beyond self, and a timeless perspective on life’s temporary ups and downs.

A study conducted by David Jensen at UCLA covering a broad range of people from every walk of life concluded that people who set goals and develop a plan of action to reach them are happier and healthier, earn considerably more money, and get along better with the people at home than do people who have no clearly defined objectives. Consider this happiness factor as you set your goals.

• Obey God; And always do what is right.

• Never lie, but always tell the truth, even if it gets you into trouble.

• Always be good to others and never do anything that might hurt them.

• Never say anything bad about anyone.

• Don’t hang around with kids who don’t believe in God, but make friends with the kids that do.

• Always do what you say you are going to do, even if when the time comes it isn’t easy.

• Always share the things you have without expecting something back.

• Never get someone into trouble so you can get something out of it.

• If you do these things, you will be blessed. And you will live in the house of God forever.

“Learn how to be happy with what you have while you pursue all that you want.” — Jim Rohn

“Happiness comes when you believe in what you are doing, know what you are doing, and love what you are doing.” — Brian Tracy

“Happiness is an attitude of mind, born of the simple determination to be happy under all outward circumstances.” — J. Donald Walters

“A good laugh is sunshine in the house.” — William Makepeace Thackeray

Happiness is largely predictable; joy, on the other hand, takes us by surprise.

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Among the readings we associate with Advent are these words from the prophet Zephaniah, depicting a day of celebration. “The Lord is in your midst, God will rejoice over you with gladness, ....as on a day of festival.” (Zeph. 3:14-20) This is an exceptional image, for it paints a God who is not so serious or so powerful as to stand above and apart from the people. This God appears in the midst to of the people, taking part in their exuberant celebration.

Trying to capture the power of this passage, a colleague writes. “The image I have is of God as a rabbi at a Jewish wedding lifted on the shoulders of the dancing guests celebrating the union of the bride and groom.” Calls to rejoice and celebrate are frequent in scripture, but the image of God actually stepping up to share in our human celebration, dancing, if you will at a wedding reception, is rare.

It's rare, and I fear it may be too simple. For in the midst of good times, it's relatively easy to celebrate. Whereas the true test of faith is whether we can celebrate when things are not going according to plan. It was this way for the Apostle Paul when he wrote his letter to the Philippians. It was during a time of mounting persecution. Paul had already been arrested, and was being held in a Roman prison, and he was writing a letter of consolation to the little church in Philippi. Paul knew that hard times were coming for such small clusters of Christians all across the empire. But he wanted to share with them a word of encouragement, so he wrote: “Have no anxiety about anything, but ... with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which passes all human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

“Have no anxiety about anything.....

....Easier said than done!

The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding. This is the source of the joy we feel in God's presence. And it's a joy that came come when we least expect it, even in the face of circumstances which would not appear to give much reason for rejoicing. Perhaps that's the difference between true joy and mere happiness. It was so for Jesus when he shared his last moments with his disciples - and he knew that death was waiting in the wings, but still he said to them: “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” He said this at the supper which he knew would be his last; he knew he would be leaving them very shortly, yet the one thing he wanted them to remember him by at the moment of separation was the joy. As Fred Buechner puts it, “Happiness turns up more or less where you'd expect it to be -- a good marriage, a rewarding job, a pleasant vacation. Joy, on the other hand, is as notoriously unpredictable as the one who bequeaths it.”

But when God comes a calling on us, all our occasions shall dance for joy. That's what the apostle discovered even as he sat there in his lonely prison cell. God came dancing down the corridors of that dreary prison and filled him with a peace which did surpass all human understanding.

Which brings me back to the beginning, to the lesson from Zephaniah, which pictures God dancing in the midst of the people. When I shared this image with a friend the other day, it sparked her memory and inspired her to tell her story. She has graciously given me permission to share it with you in the hope that it might help someone else. It speaks to the kind of joy we are discussing here. The person of whom I speak is now in her mid eighties, but when she heard about the God who could dance at a wedding, she was inspired to tell the story of her divorce, which happened some forty years ago. It followed ten years of pain in a difficult marriage. During that whole time her husband was involved in a series of love affairs, and would not, or could not, give the habit up. For ten years she struggled to make the marriage work, keeping the vows, she thought, for better, or for worse. And there was their nine year old daughter. ... Wouldn't it be better for her sake to hold the family together? Finally she discovered that her husband had fathered a child with another woman. After days of painful conversation and reflection, she graciously offered to take the child in, and raise it as her own, it would be her child too. Her husband scoffed at the idea. “He laughed in my face.”

“He laughed in my face.”

That was more than she cold take. She decided to make the break, taking her daughter to a tropical island, where it was possible to get a divorce, simply by filing papers after six weeks of residency. Mother and daughter registered at an inn with a heavy metal fence out front, and a large, imposing gate; there was a hand-painted sign outside which read: Heaven's Gate. Hoping for some words of healing in a time of painful transition, she brought with her a copy of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health. Not exactly the sort of book most of us would take with us to that proverbial deserted island. But when times are tough, we sometimes reach out for straws. And in any case, she wanted to use this time to make some decisions about the future and if possible, to get closer to God. Maybe Mary Baker Eddy could help. Unfortunately, the book was a bust.

Heaven's Gate was another story. Lovely inn-keepers, with a nine year old daughter. A flock of other folk, come to the same island to end failed relationships, all presented the opportunity to share their stories, and begin new friendships. There was a lawyer from Washington State; a swarthy German from St Louis.

My friend and her daughter became very close to the inn-keepers and their daughter. In the days they explored the island and its lovely beaches, swimming at crescent bays lined with tamarind trees; at night, they listened to the music of the steel band, shared long dinners with the other guests, dancing with the governor of the island, black and white together. And the swarthy German began to take some interest in my friend. “He was so good looking and so gracious to me, I felt like a real person again. I really blew my top!, “ she finishes the story with a flurry, throwing her hands up in delight, a tremendous look of glee spreading across her face in the sheer joy of the memory, reveling in the feelings of that hour even though it happened more than forty years ago.

And in this story of joy and liberation, there is God, The Spirit, dancing in pleasure and in delight to the music of the steel band, alongside the woman who is feeling truly free for the first time in ten long years. And she finds God, not in the book of theology, but in the food, and the dancing, and the good times with her daughter, and the friendship, and the love, all of which are cause for great rejoicing! As surprising and as delightful as the one who bequeaths them. God celebrating not in the consummation of a marriage, but in the discovery that real joy is possible once again for a middle age woman and her daughter even in the pain of betrayal and divorce. At Heaven's Gate.

As Paul indicates in his letter to the Philippians, we are to rejoice, not just in the good times, but in all times. And when things are seeming rather hopeless, and when even a holiday like Christmas seems to have lost its luster, we can still rejoice in the Lord. In closing his epistle to the Philippians, Paul gives this formula, not for mere happiness, but for the deep joy that comes from God. When times are difficult, and when the bad things seem to be getting the better of you, then suggests the apostle, think on these things: “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do; and the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, Rejoice.” Amen.

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First, the good news: American teenagers are more religious than many adults seem to think.

And now the bad news: American teenagers are less religious than many adults seem to think.

Are you confused? Well, it's not quite as confusing as it sounds, that is, if you read the book SOUL SEARCHING: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers by sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton. The authors did an impressive amount of research, surveying and interviewing teenagers and their parents across the country. And they do a remarkable job of clearing up adult misconceptions about teenage spirituality.

For instance, adults tend to think of teenagers as rebellious. As a matter of fact, according to Smith and Denton, “about three in four religious teens in the United States consider their own religious beliefs somewhat or very similar to their parents'.... U.S. teens lean strongly toward similarity with their parents in religious belief.” A large majority of teens consider religion very important to them and believe that religion is a positive influence in the world.

Well, those are encouraging findings, but the worrisome part comes when the researchers start examining specific details of teens' religious beliefs. They talked to Christian kids who attend church every week but can't explain who Jesus is. Take Heather, whose mother teaches religious doctrine at their Catholic church. The fifteen-year-old told an interviewer: “I don't really get the whole thing about how, well, with the Catholics, how God is Jesus and Jesus is God, I don't understand that.” And Heather's not the exception to the rule.

In fact, the survey results show that many religious teens just don't get the point of religion. They unknowingly subscribe to a philosophy that Smith and Denton call “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.” Instead of learning the basic tenets of their religion, teens are simply absorbing a belief that if you try to be good all the time, you'll be happy — and being happy is what life's all about. This philosophy, the authors suggest, “is colonizing many historical religious traditions and ... converting believers in the old faiths to its alternative religious vision of divinely underwritten personal happiness and interpersonal niceness.”

But before we start pointing fingers at teens, Smith and Denton tell us, we need to take a long, hard look at ourselves. Teenagers aren't getting this vague, consumer-based version of religion out of nowhere. The authors remind us that adults preach at teenagers about defying authority, spending too much money, watching too much TV, being sexually irresponsible, and more — and yet adults engage in these practices to a far greater extent than teens do. “We often say one thing but do something else,” Smith and Denton remind us — and that includes the religious among us. Teens who compartmentalize their faith, or just don't take time to understand it, are a natural result of adults who do the same things.

SOUL SEARCHING is an invaluable book for understanding the religious lives of teenagers, and learning about how we can reach out to them. But even more important, it's a much-needed reminder that the kids we're so concerned about are in many ways simply reflections of us.

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Copyright (c) 2005 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

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The science of happiness poses huge questions for politicians. Governments have succeeded in delivering greater and greater wealth but that has not translated into extra happiness. Now research is suggesting ways in which societies might try to maximise well-being - ideas which often challenge some of the basic principles of modern life.

Increasingly, politicians from all sides are taking notice of the findings and discussing how they might capture the elusive feel-good factor. Back in 1999, Tony Blair wrote about achieving “a better quality of life”, adding: “Money isn't everything. But in the past governments have seemed to forget this. Success has been measured by economic growth - GDP - alone. Delivering the best possible quality of life for us all means more than concentrating solely on economic growth. That is why sustainable development is such an important part of this Government's programme. All this depends on devising new ways of assessing how we are doing.”

The leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron told The Happiness Formula programme: “We should be thinking not just what is good for putting money in people's pockets but what is good for putting joy in people's hearts.

“When politicians are looking at issues they should be saying to themselves 'how are we going to try and make sure that we don't just make people better off but we make people happier, we make communities more stable, we make society more cohesive'.”

ECONOMICS

The idea that politics should be about creating “the greatest happiness of the greatest number” goes back to the end of the 18th century and the philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

However, no-one could work out how to measure happiness, or how to weigh one person's happiness against how other people feel.

So economics, which is built on objective measurement, took hold instead.

In the past few years figures close to government in Britain have been arguing once again that policies should take account of how happy - or unhappy - they make people.

In 2002, The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit held a “life satisfaction” seminar in Whitehall discussing the implications of a “happiness” policy.

A few month's later, Downing Street published an “analytical paper” which considered how happiness might affect different policies including:

A happiness index Teaching people about happiness More support for volunteering “A more leisured work-life balance” Higher taxes for the rich

The authors were careful to say that the ideas were not government policy, but Tony Blair's policy adviser who helped write the paper, David Halpern, told The Happiness Formula it is inevitable that in future governments will be judged on their success in making people happy.

“Put it this way, if government doesn't measure it, other people will and already are.”

Already one government department has defined its purpose as improving people's “health and happiness”.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is working on a happiness index.

Furthermore, every local authority in England and Wales has wide-ranging powers to promote well-being.

The Happiness Formula has been looking at how different politics would be if government tried to make people happy rather than just rich.

TAX MAKES YOU HAPPY

Research has suggested that one of the key reasons why wealth has not translated into happiness is that we tend to compare ourselves with people who are richer than we are.

As a result, even though we may be better off ourselves, we still do not get any happier.

If we want a happier society, so the theory goes, we need to reduce the gap between rich and poor.

And the way to do that is to redistribute wealth from the rich to the less well-off.

So some close to government are now arguing that, believe it or not, taxes make us happy.

“We tend to think of taxes as bad,” said the PM's adviser David Halpern.

“I know it's difficult for us to believe as we take out our chequebook at the end of the year, but it looks like, at least at a certain level, taxes are likely to increase the well-being of the population.”

The leading economist Professor Richard Layard of the LSE explains why: “We should try and discourage people from comparing themselves with other people ... and I think the tax system can help us in that way.”

Do not panic though - both Mr Halpern and Professor Layard reckon the current tax rates are about right for maximising happiness.

BANNING ADVERTISING

The science of happiness suggests advertising is a major cause of unhappiness because it makes people feel less well-off.

According to Professor Layard some advertising should be banned.

“I don't see that we need to allow pictorial advertising which conveys very little information because it makes people feel poorer.”

In the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, where government makes policy on the basis of Gross National Happiness, most street advertising is banned - particularly when aimed at children.

In the UK, the National Consumer Council is campaigning to ban advertising to children below the age of 10.

“We already regulate alcohol to children, we should also regulate and I think ban advertising of junk food to children,” said Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of the NCC.

“There is no case, in terms of health or wellbeing of children for advertising like this.”

In fact, says Mr Mayo, the council's own research suggests advertising to children can make them more unhappy.

“Children that are more brand aware, are more consumerist, came across as less satisfied in other parts of their lives - were unhappier”.

COMMUTING LESS

According to scientists commuting is really bad news for happiness.

Not only is the journey to and from work often a pretty miserable experience in itself, it has knock-on effects which limit the happiness of the rest of our lives.

It appears that our happiness is closely linked to what researchers call our “social capital” - the sum of all our connections and trust in other people, our personal family ties, our friends, and our acquaintances.

Professor Robert Putnam of Harvard University has calculated that every 10 minutes of commuting cuts all forms of social involvement by 10% - so 10% fewer family dinners, local club meetings, and other involvement.

Once politicians encouraged us to “get on our bikes” and look for work.

But the science of happiness suggests we might be better off staying close to our families and friends.

There are implications for whether government should support communities where traditional industries have failed.

Questions, too, for business and individuals as to whether they should move to new areas.

It is arguable that planners and politicians should try to discourage people from living far from where they work.

ENCOURAGE MARRIAGE

The science of happiness suggests marriage is so good for your well-being that it adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman.

To maximise happiness, it is argued, government should certainly do nothing to discourage marriage; arguably it should promote it.

However, in Britain, any financial incentives to get married have been taken away.

Politicians seem reluctant to make moral judgments about domestic relationships.

“The married tend to be happier,” said Mr Halpern.

“In my view, it's not so much necessarily for government to say you therefore should be married, but it's perfectly reasonable [for the government] to say ... if you do these you'll probably be happy, if you do these you'll probably be miserable, you decide.”

RETHINKING THE HEALTH SERVICE

Research also suggests there is a powerful link between happiness and health.

It is suggested that making people happy could do more for the health of the nation than all the exercise, diet and anti-smoking campaigns rolled into one.

And that argues for a big re-think in the priorities of the NHS.

Policies aimed at making people happier - or at least less unhappy - should be encouraged in an effort to prevent people becoming ill in the first place.

One idea is to massively increase access to a relatively new form of psychotherapy called CBT or cognitive behavioural therapy, which aims to help people avoid dwelling on negative thoughts and find ways to overcome them.

Lord Layard, author of Happiness: lessons from a new science, believes the science is so conclusive the government should immediately employ another 10,000 therapists.

“We're talking about for a course of CBT a thousand, £1500 with something that can change somebody's life.

“It really is important that we should try and have a major nationally organised training programme for more therapists.”

MAKING PEOPLE HAPPY

But just how far should a government go?

In Bhutan they have banned a whole series of TV channels such as wrestling and MTV. The country has even banned plastic bags.

One reason Bhutan has been able to take such dramatic steps is that it is run by an absolute monarchy.

In the West, if politicians, acting in the name of happiness, were to impose bans and restrictions on people's freedom, governments would be more likely to encounter resistance.

Some argue that the logic of happiness research would be the ultimate in nanny states - an argument the Prime Minister's strategy adviser is keen to contradict.

“I'm sure lots of ministers would be nervous about that.

“But it turns out that some of the key determinates of what make us happy, are things over which we as individuals have relatively little control about prevalent levels of community safety, they're safe when they go out.

“How do other people in general behave, about the way in which our whole economy may be locked into a given path.

“These are things that as individuals we can't determine, but we can determine as a society together, and that basically means government is in the game.”

Peter Writes to Pilgrims — 1 Peter 1:3a — Blessing God – « Leader information shown in this fashion »

A. “Blessed be the God and Father of Jesus Christ our Lord…”

1. First, let us clarify some of what we know about God …

a. … from Malachi 3:6, Hebrew 13:8 – « God is changeless »

b. … from Psalm 102:25–27 « – this changeless God is the Creator of and has a relation with a changing universe »

c. … from Isaiah 51:6 « – He is also the Author of eternal, if not changeless, spiritual realities: salvation, righteousness »

d. … from Isaiah 46:9–11 « – He is Unique, Self-Revealing; He is Sovereign; whatever He intends to do, that He does and none can stop Him. By the constraints of human language, the Bible may use terms in describing God which are inconsistent with His immutability, such as grieve and repent. These are called ‘anthropomorphisms,’ meaning shaping human terms to fit God. Often it can be readily seen in these cases that it is man who changes thereby moving himself from the place of God’s wrath into the place of acceptance by God. »

2. There are two words for ‘blessed’ commonly used in the New Testament: makarios and eulogetos and their relatives

a. The first word, makarios, means blessed, fortunate or happy and is applied to God only in 1 Timothy 1:11, 6:15

i. In our common understanding of the word ‘happy,’ what makes a person happy? « – situation, prospects, circumstances, or things happening to him »

ii. Can God be affected by external circumstances? « – no, for He is changeless and carries out His own plans – this indicates the utter mystery of prayer, for those who by faith pray in His will know it works, which also teaches us something about the gift of faith. »

iii. Is it appropriate, then, to describe God as ‘happy’ in this sense? « – no; He is not ruled, but rules, happenings »

iv. This is the same word that is used in Matthew 5:3–12 (the ‘Beatitudes’) about God’s people; does their being ‘blessed’ or ‘happy’ result from circumstances? « – no, despite their circumstances, Jesus pronounces these people to be makarios »

v. Look again at 1 Timothy 6:15 and the following verse, 16; what is a common thread in the descriptions of God? « – His nature is altogether different from ours; He is the ‘I AM THAT I AM’ »

vi. Now this is hard! What can makarios mean when it is used about God? « – Let me try: God is, by nature, complete in His being as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, being satisfied in performing His will (Isaiah 53:10; see also Psalm 40:7–8 with Hebrews 10:7–9) … in some small measure He conveys this to us, His children (Matthew 5:3–12!!!) – well, that was quite a diversion but it will profit us as we look at … »

b. The second word, eulogetos, that Peter uses here, comes from a verb meaning bless, praise of commend; in fact, I could have translated it, ‘Praised be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ’ but we might have missed some of the lessons to be found in this verse.

i. This word is rooted in two others

(1) eu – meaning ‘well or good’

(2) legw – to lay, to lay down or before, especially a speech, narrative; hence to narrate or relate; thus more commonly to speak, to command

(3) hence it means? « – to speak well, command good »

ii. It is used in a number of connections; how is it used (who is blessing whom or what?) and what does it mean in …

(1) … Romans 12:14, Matthew 5:44?

(a) it is used – « of man blessing man »

(b) it means – « to ask for their welfare, to speak to God for their well-ness or well-being »

(2) … Luke 9:6?

(a) it is used « – of man (Jesus) blessing food »

(b) it means « – giving thanks (acknowledging God’s blessing in providing food) » « »

(3) … Acts 3:26, Ephesians 1:3b (the second part)?

(a) it is used – « of God blessing man »

(b) it means – « His commanding good things for man; His conferring favours or benefits on man; here, repentance and the spiritual benefits associated with salvation »

(4) … Ephesians 1:3a (the first part), 1 Peter 1:3a?

(a) it is used « – of man blessing God »

(b) it means « – to give to God, celebrating His goodness in speech: praise, thanks, worship »

iii. 1 Chronicles 16:29, Revelation 5:12; when we bless God are we conferring a favour unto Him « – no, this is His right and due, both by His nature and His deeds »

iv. Does blessing God affect (ie., change) Him? … who does it change? « – no, He is unchanged by our acts, even our worship … He responds to us in keeping with His will and with His character, including His love. It is us who are changed by Him and brought into a closer relationship with Him by our blessing Him. This is why worship is so important in our lives as His church »

3. Who is the object of Peter’s (and our) blessing in this verse? « – God; which person? … the Father (normal translation, ‘of our Lord Jesus Christ’ – I translated this way to show possessive applies to the word ‘Lord’ and it is a reverse possessive: we belong to Him; He is the one we confess as Lord (Romans 10:9) »

4. Does this mean the other members of the Trinity are not to receive our worship …

a. … Revelation 5:12–13? « – no, Lamb (the Son) is to receive praise and honour on equal footing with the One sitting upon the throne »

b. … John 4:24? « – this is less clear, but a strong implication that the Spirit is to receive worship; the divine honour given to the Holy Spirit in Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:13 accords Him the right to be worshipped »

Formula for Happiness and Success – It is set forth in the message of Psalm 1.

What Not to Do:

– Don’t follow the counsel of ungodly people

– Don’t hang around in sinful company

– Don’t get cynical and scornful

What to Do:

– Delight in reading the His Word – the Bible

– Meditate and ponder on it night and day

You Will Be Like:

– A great tree growing in a well watered place

– Which bears fruit every year

– Whose leaves will not wither

– Whatever you do will prosper

Blessed is the man

Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither;

And whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Tracy Ballard turns up the volume on her new wireless iPod. She basks in the rays streaming from her bathroom skylight and admires the iridescent glass tiles beneath her feet.

Only the flush of her husband's morning trip to the bathroom could interrupt her enjoyment of this resort-like setting.

When Tracy and her husband, John, of Washington, D.C., decided that their bathroom needed a little upgrade, they didn't stop at new sinks. No, they equipped their tile-covered getaway with a 9-by-4-foot shower, fully arrayed with five showerheads, four body sprays, instant steam, and portable speakers for their iPod.

Tracy and John are just one of many American couples who now deck out their bathrooms with every amenity — including wide-screen TVs with surround sound! A WASHINGTON POST article predicted that just this year, Americans will spend $22 billion on luxury bathrooms alone — that's ten times what America will spend on AIDS research! This trend toward increasingly decadent powder rooms reflects a phenomenon author Gregg Easterbrook describes as the “progress paradox.” He explains that Americans are wealthier, healthier, and safer than they were fifty years ago.

But here's the catch — the number of people who say they are “very unhappy” has risen 20 percent since the 1950s. And rates of depression are 10 times higher than they were fifty years ago.

What's wrong with our generation? Why are we so unhappy when we have so much?

Clearly, $120,000 latrines are not the answer.

J. P. Moreland, in his new book, THE LOST VIRTUE OF HAPPINESS, says that we are miserable because we have a distorted definition of happiness. We describe happiness as a FEELING of pleasure achieved through the gratification of our physical and emotional desires. Underlying that definition is the assumption that our lives are our own and it's up to us to maximize comfort and minimize pain.

According to Moreland, we've got it all wrong. The classical notion of happiness (or EUDAIMONIA in Greek), was “a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness” — not a life consumed with self-gratification.

“Real life does not come naturally,” Moreland explains. “It is counterintuitive. It is a skill we have to learn. That's because the way to real life is not something we get, but something we give.”

The ancient Greek philosophers and our American forefathers understood this, but modern Americans seem to have forgotten it. We've forgotten that we obtain happiness by living out the paradox Christ lays before us in Matthew 16:25: “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”

A FEELING of happiness may be the result of a life well-lived, but it can never be our goal. True happiness abounds when we understand that our lives are not our own and when we practice the spiritual disciplines that lead us closer to Christ — the source of our true happiness.

Maybe, then, we won't need to spend $22 billion to lace our lavatories with gold.

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Copyright (c) 2006 Prison Fellowship Ministries. Reprinted with permission. "BreakPoint with Chuck Colson" is a radio ministry of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

In a question and answer period after one of his lectures, C.S. Lewis was asked which of the world’s religions gives its followers the greatest happiness. Lewis paused and said this: “While it lasts, the religion of worshipping oneself is best.”

No doubt each word in his response was selected carefully, for he gently challenged the assumptions of the questioner. When happiness is identified as the most important thing, it is the self we seek above all else. And by alluding to this in terms of worship and religion, Lewis makes a wholly accurate point. In fact, it is steeped in an age-old creed. By jettisoning the Divine, by getting out from under the tyrannical arm of God, we believe we are wholly free to pursue that which is pleasing, and that which we please.

Yet in this lies the danger, for even in matters of enormous consequence we may seek that which will make us happy, and not necessarily that which is true. Man becomes his own god, the measure of all things. And yet reality, as Lewis alludes, doesn’t seem to back this theory up. “While it lasts,” he prefaces. For indeed, self-satisfaction wrought at the expense of all else is always fleeting, unreachable, or unfulfilling. Instead of happiness we more readily find boredom and depression.

While worship of the self is readily tried, much is sacrificed upon the altars of this religion: truth for one, pleasure as it was intended for another, but also — ironically — the very self we were aiming to please in the first place. (One immediately thinks of Oscar Wilde’s poignant depiction of Dorian Gray.) So then, will we conclude that the self is not, in fact, the most important thing? We will conclude that the foundation upon which we have asked the question in the first place is faulty? Unfortunately, more often we do not.

Even when we are faced with empirical evidence that shows the inadequacy of certain truths we live by, rarely do we look at the underlying suppositions that led us to embrace the truth in the first place. It is hard to go back to our foundational assumptions and start over; it is much easier to keep walking with our assumptions firmly intact.

This is one of the most uniquely fascinating things about Jesus Christ. As a teacher, he worked within the assumptions of the individual and the individual’s worldview. That is, to the questions of many, he responded with a question of his own. Thus, to the paralytic man at the pool waiting to be healed, he asked, “Do you want to get well?” (See John 5:1-14). At once this seems a ridiculous thought. And yet, how often we find those who do actually seem to prefer their pain?

Again, to the rich young ruler who asked, “Good teacher what must I do to inherit the kingdom?” Jesus inquired back, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but God” (Luke 18:18-19). Namely, are you willing to receive an answer to your question as one from God? His words probe deeply into places in our minds we have taken for granted, concepts we are conditioned to accept without further thought — assumptions that have grown invisible to our own eyes.

The book of Proverbs states, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out” (20:5). I believe Jesus Christ is that man. He is truth and wisdom incarnate, the one who draws out our purposes in plain view. Will we examine, then, our purposes and assumptions and follow after Him accordingly? Or will we walk away empty and uncertain like the rich young ruler? These are questions we must answer carefully.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

In the United States Declaration of Independence, the “pursuit of happiness” is declared to be an inalienable right. Regardless of whether or not this pursuit IS a right, we should ask the question of whether or not the pursuit of happiness is ever truly successful. Obviously, happiness is attained all around us every day, but I question whether the single-minded pursuit of happiness leads to the sort that is truly lasting.

The various magazines in the check-out line at the supermarket suggest many means for pursuing happiness. The tamer suggestions range from organizing your closets to losing thirty pounds to purchasing the latest wireless technology. While I’m sure each of these endeavors produces a sense of satisfaction, most of us know from experience that no tip from a magazine is going to lead to any lasting sort of happiness. In fact, happiness is so elusive that it often seems that running after it is the surest technique to chase it away. As Ravi Zacharias has said, “The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced what you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has let you down.”(1)

Are we left with the conclusion that happiness must simply be bestowed upon us, that we have no hand in the matter? I don’t believe so. In Charlotte Bronte’s novel VILLETTE, a cheerful young doctor admonishes the melancholy heroine that she should “cultivate happiness.” As she contemplates his advice, she writes, “No mockery in this world ever sounds to me so hollow as that of being told to CULTIVATE happiness. What does such advice mean? Happiness is not a potato to be planted in mould and tilled with manure.”

In spite of this character’s aversion to the metaphor of cultivating happiness, I believe it is a better model than that of a pursuit. Pursuit of happiness implies that it can be obtained in some constant, continual supply. When the prize that promised happiness doesn’t deliver it, the one who pursues happiness simply finds another carrot to chase. On the other hand, one who seeks to cultivate happiness does not expect immediate pay off. Instead, he “plants” in his life those things which in time will lead to happiness. He recognizes that happiness comes in different forms at different times, just as plants must be harvested in season.

Every year around this time, I like to plant tulip bulbs in my yard. I don’t expect to see tulips blooming in a few days or even a few weeks. I know that the bulbs must sit in the ground during the months of winter in order to bloom in the spring. When the tulips finally peak through as the ground thaws, I reap the rewards of the digging done in autumn. I don’t despair when they die; I keep planting so that new blossoms will bloom.

The mindset of cultivation does not expect immediate rewards; cultivation demands patience, foresight, and the embrace of delayed gratification. C.S. Lewis noted that he didn’t become a Christian in order to increase his present happiness; a bottle of port would have done that! If you are looking for immediate gratification, you might as well buy yourself a new purse or a new car rather than try Christianity. The sort of happiness that it promises must be cultivated.

“Beatitude” comes directly from the Latin word for happiness, but Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount is a surprising prescription for happiness. Those who mourn, who are poor in spirit, or are persecuted rarely appear to us as happy. Implied in the beatitudes is the idea that true happiness isn’t the same as immediate happiness. The comfort that comes to those who mourn is deeper than the comfort of those who have never shed a tear. Those who have hungered find more satisfaction in being filled than those who have wanted for nothing. Those who yield their rights now will, in the long run, receive even more than they are due.

The first time I ever planted tulips, I had to take someone else’s word for it that the onion-like bulbs would one day produce the slender flowers I desired. If we are going to cultivate happiness in our own lives, we cannot rely on our instincts; these will lead us toward immediate gratification that is as short-lived as stem-cut tulips planted in the ground. The teachings of Jesus, the Psalms, and the Bible as a whole are preoccupied with the question of how lasting happiness can be obtained. If you desire to reap a bountiful harvest in your own life, I urge you to study the Scriptures and endeavor to plant in your soul those things nurture the kind of happiness that never fades.

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1. Ravi Zacharias, THE REAL FACE OF ATHEISM (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), 85.

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Copyright © 2006 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

I remember feeling great distress as a child over the images of starving children that were regularly shown on television. At that time, most of the children I was seeing were victims of famine in Ethiopia. Their swollen bellies confused me; if they were starving (as the woman on TV said), why did they look so fat? My mother explained to me that the abdomens of these children were swollen because they weren’t receiving any protein. Their distended bellies were a sign that they were severely malnourished.

Just as I misinterpreted the swollen stomachs of the Ethiopian children, it is possible to misjudge the health of our culture and society. In the same way that the distended stomach of a starving child looks deceptively similar to one who has been overfed, the abundant evidence of material prosperity in our country belies the spiritual poverty endemic in the West.

In his book THE PROGRESS PARADOX: HOW LIFE GETS BETTER WHILE PEOPLE FEEL WORSE, Gregg Easterbrook documents the sharp rise in prosperity in America. Not only have the rich gotten richer, those in middle and even lower income brackets now enjoy many comforts that a few decades ago were the prerogative of the very wealthy. He writes:

If you sat down with a pencil and graph paper to chart the trends

of American and European life since the end of World War II,

you’d do a lot of drawing that was pointed up. Per-capita

income, “real” income, longevity, home size, cars per driver,

phone calls made annually, trips taken annually, highest degree

earned, IQ scores, just about every objective indicator of social

welfare has trended upward on a pretty much uninterrupted basis

for two generations. Many subjective graphs would also show

steady upward trends: personal freedom, women’s freedom,

reduction of bias against minority groups.

But your graphs would lose their skyward direction when the

topics turned to the inner self. The trend line for happiness

has been flat for fifty years. The trend line is negative for

the number of people who consider themselves “very happy,” that

percentage gradually declining since the 1940s. And the trend

line would cascade downward like water over a falls on the topic

of avoiding depression. (1)

In spite of the material prosperity of the West, spiritual poverty shows through like gaunt limbs that cannot be hidden by designer clothes. Ours is not the first society to mask spiritual starvation with material excess. Jesus warned the church in Laodicea of this very thing: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

Prosperity is not wrong, but it is incredibly dangerous. When the man we’ve come to call the “rich young ruler” approached Jesus, Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions. Was this because the poor could not be fed any other way? Was this because wealth is intrinsically sinful? No. It was because Jesus knew that this man’s wealth possessed his heart and would not admit any rival master.

Do not be misled by the signs of prosperity around you. Swollen stomachs don’t indicate nourishment, and success does not insure health. Unlike those who are physically starving because of famine, we have a choice: spiritual food is close at hand. Ask God to evict the love of the world from your heart, and prepare yourself to taste and see that the Lord is good.

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1. (New York: Random House, 2004), 163.

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Copyright © 2007 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

Who is the happiest at their job? It is no surprise that low-paying menial jobs are at the bottom of the list. The most satisfied workers in America are the clergy. The following statistics are from 2007.

TOP U.S. OCCUPATIONS IN JOB SATISFACTION RANK

Occupations % “Very Satisfied”

Best 1. Clergy 87.2

2. Physical Therapists 78.1

3. Firefighters 80.1

4. Education Administrators 68.4

5. Painter, Sculptors, Related 67.3

6. Teachers 69.2

7. Authors 74.2

8. Psychologists 66.9

9. Special Education Teachers 70.1

10. Operating Engineers 64.1

Bottom Occupations in Job Satisfaction

10. Expediters 37.0

9. Food Preparers, Misc. 23.6

8. Cashiers 25.0

7. Apparel Clothing Salesperson 23.9

6. Freight & Stock Handlers 25.8

5. Hand Packers and Packagers 23.7

4. Bartenders 26.4

3. Laborers, Except Construction 21.4

2. Waiters/Servers 27.0

Worst 1. Roofers 25.3

Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, siblings and spouses like the flu, according to a large study that for the first time shows how emotion can ripple through clusters of people who may not even know each other.

The study of more than 4,700 people who were followed over 20 years found that people who are happy or become happy boost the chances that someone they know will be happy. The power of happiness, moreover, can span another degree of separation, elevating the mood of that person’s husband, wife, brother, sister, friend or next-door neighbor.

“You would think that your emotional state would depend on your own choices and actions and experience,” said Nicholas A. Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard University who helped conduct the study published online today by BMJ, a British medical journal. “But it also depends on the choices and actions and experiences of other people, including people to whom you are not directly connected. Happiness is contagious.”

One person’s happiness can affect another’s for as much as a year, the researchers found, and while unhappiness can also spread from person to person, the “infectiousness” of that emotion appears to be far weaker.

Previous studies have documented the common experience that one person’s emotions can influence another’s -- laughter can trigger guffaws in others; seeing someone smile can momentarily lift one’s spirits. But the new study is the first to find that happiness can spread across groups for an extended period.

When one person in the network became happy, the chances that a friend, sibling, spouse or next-door neighbor would become happy increased between 8 percent and 34 percent, the researchers found. The effect continued through three degrees of separation, although it dropped progressively from about 15 percent to 10 percent to about 6 percent before disappearing.

The research follows previous work by Christakis and co-author James H. Fowler that found that obesity also appears to spread from person to person, as does the likelihood of quitting smoking. The researchers have been using detailed records originally collected by the Framingham Heart Study, a long-running project that has explored a host of health issues, to construct and analyze detailed maps of social networks.

The findings, Christakis and others said, provide striking new evidence of the power of social networks, which could have implications for public policy. Happy people tend to be better off in myriad ways, being more creative, productive and healthier.

“For a long time, we measured the health of a country by looking at its gross domestic product,” said Fowler, a political scientist at the University of California at San Diego who co-authored the study. “But our work shows that whether a friend’s friend is happy has more influence than a $5,000 raise. So at a time when we’re facing such economic difficulties, the message could be, ‘Hang in there. You still have your friends and family, and these are the people to rely on to be happy.’ “

Other experts praised the study as a landmark in the growing body of evidence documenting the influence of personal connections and the importance of positive emotions.

“It’s a pathfinding article,” said Martin E.P. Seligman, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist. “It’s totally original, and the findings are striking.”

Stanley Wasserman, who studies social networks at Indiana University, said: “We’ve known that one’s network ties are important, but we’ve never looked at anything on this scale. The implications are you can’t look at individuals as little entities devoid of their social context.”

Others, however, questioned the findings, noting that it is difficult to account for every variable that might affect the outcomes of such studies.

“Researchers should be cautious in attributing correlations in health outcomes of close friends in social network effects,” wrote Ethan Cohen-Cole of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and Jason M. Fletcher of Yale University in an accompanying study. Their research used data from a large federal survey to show that acne, headaches and even height could appear to spread through social networks if not analyzed properly. “The methods of detecting ‘social network effects’ of health outcomes commonly found in the recent medical literature might produce effects where none exists.”

But Christakis said his analysis took other possible explanations into consideration.

Ed Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the findings could explain why people in some countries tend to be happier than others. “This is an extremely exciting study -- interesting, provocative and important,” Diener said.

While obesity appeared to spread even among people who lived far apart, happiness appears to be transmitted only among people who live within a mile of one another. The influence was also greatest among people who considered themselves mutual friends.

Because the researchers did not find the effect for people living on the same block beyond a next-door neighbor, they were confident that the positive mood was not the result of living in the same good neighborhood. Because people tended to get happier if someone they knew became happy, the researchers could rule out the alternative explanation that happy people tend to be drawn to each other.

“We know it’s not a ‘birds of a feather flock together’ effect,” Christakis said.

Surprisingly, happiness had no such effect at work. The researchers speculated that work relationships may have different dynamics. One worker might become happy because he or she got a raise or a promotion at the expense of another, for example.

Unhappiness also appeared to be catching, but not as strongly: An unhappy connection increased the chances of being unhappy by about 7 percent on average, while a happy connection increased the chances of being happy by about 9 percent. While having more friends is important for a person’s happiness, the benefit of having more friends appears to be canceled out if they are unhappy, the researchers found.

The researchers and others speculated that the emotion may be important on an evolutionary level by helping people cooperate. Seligman likened happiness to an orchestra tuning up.

“Laughter and singing and smiling tune the group emotionally,” Seligman said. “They get them on the same wavelength so they can work together more effectively as group.”

The details may vary, but the basic story is the same, and becoming more common with the passing of time. These are tragic episodes that utterly baffle the minds of family and long-time friends.

A Christian man, very active in the church, meets a woman in a store in which he occasionally shops. The lady is quite cordial and they strike up a friendship. Eventually, they exchange e-mail addresses and begin a correspondence. The messages ultimately become passionate.

One day the man informs his wife that he is leaving her. He claims to have found the “love of his life,” and has come to savor a “happiness” that has been unrivaled in previous years. He believes God wants him to be “happy,” and this new relationship seems to be the epitome of his dreams. The immorality is “justified” with the rationalism of “happiness.”

A Christian young lady of college age increasingly becomes discontented with her family and church life. She complains that she is restless with her environment. She cannot precisely identify the problem, but says she is just “unhappy” and feels that she must explore various avenues of life in her quest for fulfillment. After all, she says, “God wants me to be happy.”

And so she gathers a few belongings and migrates to a notoriously evil, metropolitan city. The last anyone hears of her, she is working in some den of debauchery. Eventually she vanishes altogether into a black hole of reckless abandon, never to be heard from again. Did she find the “happiness” she so irresponsibly sought? One can confidently state that she did not.

The foregoing actual case histories (though slightly altered in some details) are not unlike the narrative in Luke 15, in Christ’s parable of the “prodigal son.” Gathering his prematurely derived inheritance, a young man left a loving father and journeyed into a “far country.” In this story, the “father” represents God, while the profligate reflects the “free-spirited” rebel who is ever in that illusive quest for “happiness.”

As the informed Bible student knows, he ended up foraging for his food amongst a herd of pigs. In his new neighborhood of stench, there was no “happiness.” It was only when he “came to himself,” returned to his father, that genuine contentment settled into his heart.

What vast multitudes do not realize is this: the Lord’s definition of “happiness” is not that of the common human perception of this much-sought, highly elusive emotion. In the divine “lexicon” of emotions, “happiness” is not grounded in physical and material goals; and most especially not in that which is in clear violation of the Lord’s expressed Will.

The Moses Case

One needs to remind himself occasionally of that passage which describes the temperament of the noble Moses.

“By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he looked unto the recompense of reward” (Hebrews 11:23-26).

The truth is, Moses forsook “enjoyment” and “pleasure” in order to secure real “happiness.” How wonderful it would be if everyone could discover his secret.

The companion terms, “enjoy” and “pleasure,” are not without importance. There is a measure of these sensations in many pursuits of life — even in varieties of sin. But “enjoyment/pleasure” is not “happiness” in the ultimate sense of the latter term. The Lord God is not going to reward drunkenness, drug abuse, and fornication with “happiness.” What an insulting view of the Creator this is!

Divine Happiness

When we moderns think about “happiness,” we are extremely casual in the manner in which we employ the term. One may be “happy” for his daughter’s forthcoming marriage. Another is “happy” with his new automobile. Many are ecstatically “happy” when their favorite sports team wins. The list of these frivolously “happy” attainments is endless. Generally, the adjective is associated with some of the most mundane experiences of human existence. Little wonder so many souls are “unhappy.” They don’t even know what happiness is!

The term “happy” is found approximately 28 times in the English Bible (KJV; ASV). A survey of those texts reveals that happiness, as viewed by the Creator, always has to do with a spiritual exercise. It is a service to God that embodies an eternal hope.

The common Hebrew term is asre. It frequently is used as an interjection of elation, as in: “Oh, the blessedness of,” or “How happy, truly happy is he ... .”

The expression is clustered among such texts as these: “happy is the people whose God is Jehovah” (Psalm 144:15). Happy is the person whose “hope is in Jehovah his God” (Psalm 146:5). Happy is the one who seeks and embraces true wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 3:13). Happy is he who has a healthy respect for [not slavish fear of] God’s expectations; on the contrary, the one who hardens his heart falls into mischief (Proverbs 28:14). “Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers; but his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).

In his book, Mere Christianity, British philosopher C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) observed that it is a futile exercise to seek happiness apart from God. Man has been “designed” to find his purpose, indeed his happiness, only in his Creator. In fact, Lewis insists, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing” (54). We were made to glorify God (Isaiah 43:7), and apart from that thrilling enterprise, there is no real contentment in human existence.

A New Testament Portrait

In the New Testament, a term that conveys the idea of happiness is makarios, usually rendered “blessed.” The word is found about 50 times in the New Testament documents; it dominates the early portion of Christ’s “sermon on the mount,” and is found significantly in the book of Revelation (1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7,14).

Scottish scholar, William Barclay, has provided a most interesting study of this word (I.89). He says that makarios “describes that joy which has its secret within itself, that joy which is serene and untouchable, and self-contained, that joy which is completely independent of all the chances and the changes of life.”

By way of contrast, mere human “happiness” reveals its own character. The component “hap” suggests “chance.” Happiness, as we commonly evaluate the term, is that which depends upon the vicissitudes of life. Happiness changes with one’s circumstances; today one may be happy, but tomorrow he will be forlorn.

At the commencement of his renowned “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5:3-12), Jesus taught that the truly “blessed” (happy) are those who acknowledge they are spiritual paupers without God, who weep over their sins, thus seeking Heaven’s pardon.

The happy are those who meekly submit themselves to divine control, who incessantly hunger and thirst for the spiritual righteousness that truly satisfies.

They lovingly extend mercy to others, just as they have received it from the Lord. They happily maintain pure (unmixed) motives that are focused upon God; they strive to live at peace with their Maker and others.

These are so spiritually dedicated that even persecution cannot extinguish their joy. One cannot but think of Paul and Silas, singing praise/prayer to God — even with shredded, bloody backs in a Philippian dungeon (Acts 16:23-25).

Conclusion

How very foolish we are when we allow ourselves to be enticed from godliness by the temporal and exceedingly shallow emotions of passing mirages that will prove to be nothing more than cruel illusions in the eternal order of things.

As devout Christians, we need to pray that we enter not into such temptations (Luke 22:40). In reality, they are far more common than we realize, and are becoming more so in an increasingly crass world.

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References:

Barclay, William (1975), The Gospel of Matthew – Vol. 1 (Philadelphia: Westminster Press).

Lewis, C.S. (1975), Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan).

The evangelical world, joined by no shortage of secular observers, has been abuzz about the latest soundbite of note from the Pastors Osteen — this time offered by Victoria Osteen as her husband Joel beamed in the background. It is a hard video to watch.

In her message, Victoria Osteen tells their massive congregation to realize that their devotion to God is not really about God, but about themselves. “I just want to encourage every one of us to realize when we obey God, we’re not doing it for God–I mean, that’s one way to look at it–we’re doing it for ourselves, because God takes pleasure when we are happy.... That’s the thing that gives Him the greatest joy.... ”

She continued: “So, I want you to know this morning — Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy.... When you come to church, when you worship him, you’re not doing it for God really. You’re doing it for yourself, because that’s what makes God happy. Amen?”

As you might predict, the congregation responded with a loud “Amen.”

America deserves the Osteens. The consumer culture, the cult of the therapeutic, the marketing impulse, and the sheer superficiality of American cultural Christianity probably made the Osteens inevitable. The Osteens are phenomenally successful because they are the exaggerated fulfillment of the self-help movement and the cult of celebrity rolled into one massive mega-church media empire. And, to cap it all off, they give Americans what Americans crave — reassurance delivered with a smile.

Judged in theological terms, the Osteen message is the latest and slickest version of Prosperity Theology. That American heresy has now spread throughout much of the world, but it began in the context of American Pentecostalism in the early twentieth century. Prosperity theology, promising that God rewards faith with health and wealth, first appealed to those described as “the dispossessed” — the very poor. Now, its updated version appeals to the aspirational class of the suburbs. Whereas the early devotees of Prosperity Theology prayed for a roof over their heads that did not leak, the devotees of prosperity theology in the Age of Osteen pray for ever bigger houses. The story of how the Osteens exercised faith for a big house comes early in Joel Osteen’s best-seller, Your Best Life Now.

According to Osteen, God wants to pour out his “immeasurable favor” on his human creatures, and this requires a fundamental re-ordering of our thinking. “To experience this immeasurable favor,” Osteen writes, “you must rid yourself of that small-minded thinking and start expecting God’s blessings, start anticipating promotion and supernatural increase. You must conceive it in your heart before you can receive it. In other words, you must make increase in your own thinking, then God will bring those things to pass.”

There is nothing really new in this message. Anyone familiar with the New Thought movement and later books such as Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich will see a persistent theme. The important issue is this — Prosperity Theology is a false Gospel. The problem with Prosperity Theology is not that it promises too much, but that it aims for so little. What God promises us in Christ is far above anything that can be measured in earthly wealth — and believers are not promised earthly wealth nor the gift of health.

But to talk of the promises of God to believers is actually to jump outside the Osteen audience. The Osteen message does not differentiate between believers and unbelievers — certainly not in terms of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In their sermons, writings, and media appearances, the Osteens insist that God is well-disposed to all people and wills that all flourish, but there is virtually no mention of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No reference to sin as the fundamental issue. No explanation of atonement and resurrection as God’s saving acts; no clarity of any sort on the need for faith in Christ and repentance of sin.

Instead, they focus on happiness and God’s “immeasurable favor” to be poured out on all people, if they will only correct their thinking.

As a thought exercise, let’s just limit the consideration to those people who have identified as Christians throughout the centuries. Does the Osteen message come close to their experience? Would it even make sense?

Just consider the fact that most Christians throughout the history of the church have been poor, and often desperately poor. They were not hoping to move into a suburban mini-mansion, they hoped to be able to feed their children one more day. That picture is still true for millions upon millions of Christians around the world today.

And that is just the start of it. What about all those who are even now suffering persecution for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? What about the loved ones of the martyrs in Mosul? What about the Christians forced out of their homes and threatened with genocide? What about the children of Christians slain in Iraq and Syria just in recent weeks, or those martyred by Boko Haram in Africa? How does Prosperity Theology work for them? Can anyone look them in the eye and say that God’s plan for believers in this life is to know Your Best Life Now?

In her recent work on Prosperity Theology, historian Kate Bowler traces the shift from what she calls the “hard prosperity” message of the early Pentecostals to the “soft prosperity” message of modern preachers like Joel Osteen. As Bowler explains, the new “softer” version of the prosperity message has “become the foremost Christian theology of modern living.”

Well, maybe. Prosperity Theology certainly sells books and draws crowds in the United States, but what does it possibly say to a grieving Christian wife and mother in Iraq? How can it possibly be squared with the actual message of the New Testament? How can any sinner be saved, without a clear presentation of sin, redemption, the cross, the empty tomb, and the call to faith and repentance? Prosperity Theology fails every test, and fails every test miserably. It is a false gospel, and one that must be repudiated, not merely reformatted.

Victoria Osteen’s comments fit naturally within the worldview and message she and her husband have carefully cultivated. The divine-human relationship is just turned upside down, and God’s greatest desire is said to be our happiness. But what is happiness? It is a word that cannot bear much weight. As writers from C. S. Lewis to the Apostle Paul have made clear, happiness is no substitute for joy. Happiness, in the smiling version assured in the Age of Osteen, doesn’t last, cannot satisfy, and often is not even real.

Furthermore, God’s pleasure in his human creatures centers in his desire and will that they come to faith in Jesus Christ and be saved. The great dividing line in humanity is not between the rich and the poor, the sick and the well, or even the happy and the unhappy. The great divide is between those who, in Christ, have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s glorious light.

Mere happiness cannot bear the weight of the Gospel. The message of the real Gospel is found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That is a message that can be preached with a straight face, a courageous spirit, and an urgent heart in Munich, in Miami, or in Mosul.

If our message cannot be preached with credibility in Mosul, it should not be preached in Houston. That is the Osteen Predicament.

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Resource:

Kate Bowler, Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013). Section cited is on page 78.