Thomas Jefferson wrote in our Declaration of Independence from the British that all of us are endowed by our Creator with “certain unalienable rights: that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Jefferson understood that happiness is not a God-given right. It is solely dependent on our circumstances and our reaction to those circumstances. We should, however, be free to pursue happiness by changing our environment and adjusting our attitude.
There are people today who believe it is their right to be happy. They see anything that interferes with their happiness as an intrusion or threat. They are even offended when someone else has a different definition of happiness than they do. Although God created us equal in His sight, He created each of us as unique individuals and I have found that part of becoming a mature adult is accepting those differences as interesting, at times challenging, but never threatening. There have been times in my life when I have pursued things that I thought would make me happy, but my happiness is almost always found in people and my relationships with them not material comfort. Happiness seems to be more and more complicated and elusive in today’s society.
Joy, on the other hand, really does come from our Creator. Joy came into the world as angels heralded the birth of Jesus. We receive God’s joy in our hearts only through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we accept Christ as our savior, we are filled with true joy. There is no need to pursue or search for it. At times we may lose some of our joy when we concentrate too much on our circumstances or our emotions, but to become joyful again all we have to do is concentrate on our blessings and praise God for each of them. When we do that we cannot help but be filled with joy once more.
Unlike happiness, joy does not depend on our circumstances. In the words of one of my favorite Southern Gospel songs: “He gave me joy – real joy – unspeakable gladness, a peace I had not known before. In the storm he took away my sorrow; gave hope for tomorrow and more. He gave me joy in the storm.”
With God’s joy in our hearts we just might find that happiness is not so elusive after all.