HOW TO LIVE A HAPPY LIFE
INTRODUCTION:
1.
Are
most people happy? Dennis Wholey, author
of Are You Happy reports that
according to expert opinion, perhaps only about 20 percent of Americans are
truly happy.
2.
Why is
it that most people are not happy? I
think I may know the answer to that question.
3.
People
look for happiness in all the wrong places.
ILLUSTRATION:
Some time ago, a man and
his son decided to find out the secret to happiness. So one day, they turned on their computer,
booted up a search engine on the Internet, and typed in the words “true
happiness” hoping they would find the answers.
However, after several
minutes of searching, the computer said,
"No documents match the search." In other words, the computer indicated that
true happiness could not be found in the world.
4.
The
reason why most people are not happy is because they look for true happiness in
worldly things. The Bible teaches that
worldly things cannot bring us true happiness.
a.
Money
cannot bring us true happiness.
& (1 Tim. 6:6-10) "But
godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of
it. But if we have food and clothing, we
will be content with that. People who
want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and
harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds
of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced
themselves with many griefs."
(1)
When
making money becomes the number one priority in our lives, we will neglect God,
our families, and ourselves, and it will cause us much heartache. Money does not bring us happiness, it simply
provides for our needs.
ILLUSTRATION:
Jay Gould, an American
millionaire, had lots of money. However,
when he was dying, he said, “I suppose I
am the most miserable man on earth.”
(2)
Material
possessions cannot bring us true happiness.
(3)
If
true happiness could be found in material possessions, then most of us in America
should be delirious with joy and happiness beyond description. We should be producing books and poems that
describe our state of unparalleled bliss.
We should be walking around with constant smiles on our faces and
telling others how happy with are.
(4)
Instead,
we find those who have a lot of material possessions have a high rate of
divorce, suicide, depression, child abuse, and other personal and social
problems beyond description. All this is
surely proof that happiness in not found in material possessions.
(5)
Since
worldly things cannot bring us true happiness, then what does?
THIS MORNING, I WILL PRESENT THREE PRINCIPLES ON HOW WE CAN LIVE
HAPPY LIVES.
I.
FIRST, TO LIVE HAPPY LIVES, WE MUST GIVE
OUR HEARTS TO THE LORD AND RECEIVE HIS SALVATION.
& (Isa. 12:2-6) "Surely
God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my
song; He has become my salvation. With
joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. In that day you will say: Give thanks to the
Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done, and
proclaim that His name is exalted. Sing
to the Lord, for He has done glorious things; let this be known to all the
world. Shout aloud and sing for joy,
people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”
1.
When we
receive salvation, and deliverance from the bondage of sin, we should
experience joy and happiness. Like
Isaiah, we should shout aloud and sing for joy.
2.
When
Jesus Christ enters into our lives, we cannot help but to rejoice. Do remember what the Ethiopian Eunuch did
after he gave his life to Jesus and was baptized? The Bible says that he “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39).
ILLUSTRATION:
As a third-century man was
anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: “It’s a bad world, an incredibly bad
world. But I have discovered in the
midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy, which is a thousand
times better than any pleasure of our sinful life.
They are despised and
persecuted, but they care not. They are
masters of their souls. They have
overcome the world. These people are the
Christians—and I am one of them.”
3.
There
is joy beyond comparison in being a Christian.
Henry Ward Beecher once said, "The strength and the happiness of a
man consists in finding out the way in which God is going, and going in that
way too."
4.
If you
are a Christian, then you know the joy that I am speaking of, however, if you
are not a Christian, you are missing out on the joy of life. Become a Christian this morning, and
experience not only the forgiveness of your sins, but also the joy that
accompanies it.
II.
SECOND, TO LIVE A HAPPY LIVES, WE MUST
FOCUS ON RIGHTEOUS THOUGHTS.
& The Bible instructs us in (1 Thess. 5:16) to “Be joyful always” and
(Phil. 4:4) tells us to “rejoice in the Lord always.”
1.
How can
we continually be joyful?
2.
Paul in
(Phil. 4:8) explains to us the secret?
& "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
3.
If we
want happiness, we must fill our minds with lovely, pure, admirable and
praiseworthy thoughts.
4.
If we want
to be happy, we must think happy and uplifting thoughts.
& (Proverbs 23:7) “As a man
thinkest so he is.”
5.
For
most of us, however, our inner dialogue doesn’t consist of positive thoughts it
consists of a stream of negative, critical, angry, self-blaming and defeatist
thoughts. When we engage in these
negative-thinking patterns, we squeeze out the joy and happiness in our lives.
ILLUSTRATION:
Harry Perry was told he
was dying of leukemia, so he threw in the towel and started to act as if life was
over. He quit his job, ruled out
marriage, spent thousands on treatments, drank heavily, and spent most of his
time alone. He was waiting to die, but
he might as well have been dead already.
Harry’s life was empty, even though he wasn’t dead. As a matter of act, he wasn’t even dying.
About 5 years after the
initial diagnosis, another checkup showed that Harry did not have the
disease. He has since then married,
bought a home, and quit treatments. He
feels great.
Nothing has actually
changed except Harry’s attitude. When he
thought he was dying, he set a course of self-destruction. When he learned he wasn’t a victim of
leukemia, he set a course of happy living.
6.
The
application to this story is that some of us may be physically alive, however,
mentally dead, meaning our negative attitudes are quenching our spiritual
joy. We if want joy and happiness, then
we must change our attitudes.
III.
THIRD, TO LIVE HAPPY LIVES, WE MUST PURGE
ANGER FROM OUR HEARTS.
ILLUSTRATION:
In the movie Forrest Gump,
there was a scene that has one of the central characters, Jenny, returning to
her old home after her father has died and the old farmhouse is broken-down and
abandoned.
As she reflects on the
sexual abuse that she endured as a child, she is overcome by rage and begins
throwing rocks at the house. Jenny
finally falls to the ground in exhaustion and the scene closes with Forest Gump
philosophically saying, “Sometimes there just aren’t enough rocks.”
Many of us struggle with
anger. It can stem from a variety of
reasons and some anger seems very justifiable.
Yet, unresolved anger leaves us reaching and crying out for more rocks. The rage is never satisfied and happiness
squeeze out of our lives.
1.
Brethren,
through the power of the Spirit of God that is living in us, we can find the
strength to lay down the rocks of anger and forgive those who have hurt us.
2.
If you
are harboring anger and bitterness against someone, then it is time to let go
of it and forgive.
& (Mk. 11:25) “And when you
stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your
Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
& (Eph. 4:31) “Get rid of all
bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of
malice. Be kind and compassionate to one
another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
3.
Once
you let go of the anger and bitterness that has been festering up in your life,
the sunshine of joy will rise up again and bring happiness back to your life.
CONCLUSION:
1. To live a happy lives, we
must have a relationship with the Lord, focus on righteous thoughts, and purge
anger from our lives on a daily basis.
2. If we do these three things,
then we are on our way to living joyous, bright, and cheerful spiritual lives.