One thing all people have in common is a desire to be happy. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, live in the city or country, if you’re a billionaire or living check-to-check—all people pursue happiness. From time to time, we might get to enjoy a season of happiness. The trouble is, happiness is hard to hold on to. The goals we reach and things we attain make us happy for a time—but they fail to keep us content for long. After a few months of marriage, the spouse we longed for gets on our nerves. The dream job we spent years training for turns out to be a nightmare. The house we pinched pennies to buy isn’t the safe haven we hoped it would be. It doesn’t take long to learn that what we’ve acquired isn’t the final answer in our pursuit of happiness. And so, the hunt begins for the next thing—and like an out-of-shape runner on a treadmill that’s going too fast—we continue the pursuit of happiness.
The Bible tells us the first step towards happiness, and it involves managing our thoughts. It’s impossible to experience happiness apart from a healthy thought life. Psalm 1 opens with a fascinating statement:
“How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night” (Psa. 1:1-2 CSB).
So, what does this mean for our pursuit of happiness?
The Bible tells us there are two paths: one that leads to God (and happiness) and the other, which leads away from Him. Our thought life heavily influences our degree of happiness, and so the Bible has a lot to say about our thoughts. Before we set out on any path, we’ve been influenced in our minds regarding which direction we’ll go. The Psalmist says we’ll be happy if we do not mimic people who engage in a lifestyle of blatant and unrepentant sin that holds no regard for God and His commands. In other words, if you want to be happy, you’ve got to be intentional about who influences your thinking.
But the Christian life is more than just avoiding certain things. Whenever the Scriptures command us to stop or avoid something, it’s always with the intention of replacing it with something else. So, the Psalmist says that we will be happy if we are people who delight in God’s Word. The author goes as far as to compare those who love God’s Word to a tree planted by a stream of water (1:3). Regardless of circumstances or harsh surroundings, this person continues to flourish in any condition. Why? Because the person who delights in God’s Word applies the promises of God to the problems she’s facing and trusts God will do as He promised. Practically speaking, that means as you read the Scriptures you’ll want to be looking for truths and promises that address your specific circumstances. Throughout the day as you are tempted to worry or fall into the trap of negative thinking you can redirect your thoughts to what the Scriptures say.
Our degree of happiness will always be in direct correlation to our thought life. If we are people who “meditate on God’s Word day and night,” our thought lives are going to be heavily influenced by the truth of God’s promises. As we shift our thinking from our latest counterfeit form of happiness to the unshakeable promises—we will be happy people. That doesn’t mean we won’t experience hardship, but in times of trouble, we’ll know who we are and who we belong to.
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