Waiting for Happiness…

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Written by Jimmie Burroughs Email this article to a friend

It seems that most people are waiting for happiness to come their way. They believe that when they lose that 10 extra pounds, get that new job, new husband or wife or become successful, then they will be happy. The thing that many don’t realize is that all the things we want to get or things we want to happen to us will only bring a temporary rush of happiness until the new wears off and then it’s back to the same old grind of hopping for the next thing that we think will make us happy.

The real truth of the matter is if you can’t be happy now, then you will not likely be happy when your wishes do come true, at least for long.

The Apostle Paul gives us the real secret to happiness: He said, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:” (Philippians 4:11). There are two great points in this quote: First, he points out that happiness is possible regardless of the circumstances; he says he was content in whatever state he found himself. Second, he points out that he learned to be content which means that happiness is a learned virtue and not gained through things or experiences. Well in the first place Paul is going much deeper and is talking about contentment which is a much deeper and more stable experience than happiness.

Happiness is closely related to happenstance and in fact is based on happenstance; if the things that happen each day are good then we can experience a degree of happiness but on the other hand if they are bad then it works in the opposite. Since life is a rollercoaster and filled with unpleasant experiences, it is impossible to maintain consistent happiness based on happenstance.

Paul is talking about contentment which is a profound emotion not based on any external event but is based on an inner faith and trust in something much larger and much more substantial. Paul at the time of this writing had experienced far more negative events in his life than any average person ever will:

“Receiving stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often. Of the Jews five times I received forty stripes save one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was STONED, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” (II Corinthians 11:23-28)

Through it all Paul had learned the wonderful secret to real contentment. What was his secret? It certainly wasn’t the elusive thing we call happiness based on happenings or things because he had many bad experiences and had little in the terms of things.

God wanted us to know what will not bring happiness so he included it in the 10 commandments: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house” (Exodus 20:17); the word, covet, is the opposite of contentment. When a person covets things, he will never get enough of them to be content. One man who continued to buy up the land around him was asked one day how much land would it take to please him; he replied, “All that joins my land”; which of course was the entire world. I’m convinced that if he had the whole world and owned the moon also for a summer home, he still would not be content.

It is difficult for people to accept that material things do not in themselves bring happiness. Some of the richest people in the world have also been some of the most miserable.

Paul’s secret to contentment was grounded in the following verse: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself [Jesus] has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5). If we have food and clothing we are very blessed.

Do any of us lack food or clothing? If not, then we all should be content. The question is, are we? Paul’s secret was that he had learned to be content without most of the things that people believe are necessary to be happy. The Bible identifies contentment as a virtue that is to be gained/ learned, and not by any other means.

The Bible goes a step further and commands us to be content with what we have: clothes, food and wages. We are to be content because God himself is with us and will never leave us. The truth is that we as believers, according to the Bible, are heirs to all things.

It is sad that most people never experience this contentment but continue on looking for the ever elusive, fleeting pursuit of happiness based on happenings or things.

God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed in the beautiful setting of the garden of Eden but when Satan sowed that seed of discontentment in Eve’s heart, she begin to question the love and goodness of God. Today the sin of discontent has permeated our culture to the extent that it is hard to find a truly contented person.

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:” (Philippians 4:11)

Paul is saying in essence, I don’t really need anything; I’ve learned to be content with what I have in whatever circumstance I find myself. But you know what? He had not always known contentment; he had learned it.

The word “content” is from the Greek word autarkies, which mean to be satisfied, to have enough, to be self sufficient. Paul had learned the secret of being totally dependent upon God, being satisfied with what he had and being content in any situation.

It certainly was not because everything went smooth for Paul that he was content:  “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need (Philippians 4:12). In other words Paul said, I have been at the very bottom and I have also been at the very top; I have been full and I have been hungry and I have suffered need but I’ve learned to be content in it all.

You know, I’m quite sure that Paul like the rest of us had his low times. No one is always on the mountain top. Some call it a funky feeling that seems to hold on tight even when there is no obvious reason. But I believe Paul had gotten past fickle feelings and had learned to be content even when his feelings tried to tell him otherwise.

Waiting for happiness will never bring true happiness; it is not something to wait for; it is something to experience each day by those who learn that happiness is a virtue to be learned and not gained through experiences or things.

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“With patience and ease, in an unselfish and purposeful way, over a time period undetermined, and for a good that includes others, I intend for $1,000,000 to come to me and to others who join me in holding to this objective.” Jimmie Burroughs



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Jimmie Burroughs is the author of JimmieBurroughs.com ; get more tips on personal development: www.JimmieBurroughs.com

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