Happiness? How About Holiness?

“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city.”  Revelation 22:14

The Declaration of Independence, a document originated by the Second Continental Congress in 1776, states that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”, and then it continues to state that governments are formed to secure these rights.  In studying the scriptures, I can find only one “right” that God gives, and that is the right to the tree of life, i.e., eternal life in heaven, and that the only ones who have obeyed God in receiving His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are given that right.

So what did the framers of the Declaration of Independence mean by our rights?  The right to life means that no one has the right to arbitrarily take our life.  I say arbitrarily because we know that some who are tried and convicted of horrendous crimes are put to death.  Others kill in self-defense, while our military fires on our enemies in wartime.  The right to liberty, that is, freedom, comes at a great expense to our nation.  Thousands upon thousands have given their lives so that we can remain free from a repressive government.  However, our freedom only extends as far as we do not intrude upon another’s freedom.  Our freedom is also limited by our government–don’t pay Uncle Sam his dues (taxes), and your freedom may be curbed, at least your financial freedom.  As they say “If you can’t do the time, then don’t do the crime”.

Most people seek to be happy and enjoy life.  But life is filled with responsibilities, discouragements, and sorrows, which can cause happiness at times to be fleeting.  Rather than seeking for government and politicians to provide lives of ease and entitlement, we need to look to our Creator God who gave us physical life and eternal life if we will follow His Son, Jesus Christ.  God also gave us freedom, that of the privilege of living in our nation founded on the principles of freedom, and He also provided freedom from the bondage and guilt of sin through Christ.  Concerning the pursuit of happiness, God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness.  However, when we make living holy lives a priority, we will find the joy and peace that can’t be found through any other means.

In John Chapter 13, right after Jesus and His disciples had dined together for the last time before Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, He humbly filled a basin with water, retrieved a towel, and began to wash the disciples’ feet to demonstrate the humble service of which they should emulate as disciples of the Lord of lords and King of kings.  He didn’t mean that they should just wash the feet of others, but that everything they do should be to honor Him by honoring others.  And then He said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them”.  Thus, if we want to know the secret of happiness, there it is, straight from the mouth of the One who provides true life, liberty, and joy.  To follow Christ and receive eternal life in a perfect paradise seems like a pretty sweet deal to me, a whole lot more than the government can offer.