How to be Happy
Sunday 8th June
John Stuart Mill, who lived from 1806 to 1873, is reported to have had the highest IQ of anyone since the time intelligence was rated by IQ scores. He had this to say concerning happiness. ”Those only are happy who have their minds fixed on some object other than their own happiness.”
This is interesting in view of the fact that if we were to randomly ask people what they want most out of life, a great many would reply, ”to be happy.” In spite of the fact that ”to be happy” is their number one goal in life, very few of those saying this would know that the way to true happiness is to be engaged in something other than their desire to be happy.
This is no doubt the reason so many people are miserable. They are miserable because all they think about is how to be happy and John Stuart Mill was right in saying that we need to forget about ourselves and fix our minds on some object other than our own happiness.
The wise man, Salomon, whose IQ would surely have ranked higher than that of John Stuart Mill tells us that ”he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” This certainly agrees with Mr. Mill’s premise, for this happy man, according to Solomon, has his mind fixed on some object other than his own happiness. In this case he is busy showing mercy to the poor. This fact has been borne out by many who have found true happiness and contentment as they strove to serve those less fortunate individuals who truly needed help.
Just how happy are we? How busy are we in service to others? The more we think of the needs of others, the more we give of ourselves to others, the happier we become and it happens without our even thinking about it. James tells us that ”Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their of fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” It’s another way of saying, to be happy, absorb yourselves in service to the fatherless and the widows. The Lord Jesus Christ instructed us saying, ”Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest.” Truly, to receive the great reward from the Lord is a happy thing and it is accomplished by doing good, lending generously, and loving our enemies.
Paul’s advice fits right in as well we might imagine it would. He says, ”we ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.”
The key to true happiness is very simple though not widely known. Stop thinking about being happy and get busy serving the needs of others. In the process of losing ourselves in giving of ourselves to others we will suddenly discover that we are truly happy.
The secret of happiness is the same as the secret of life. On several occasions Jesus repeated it for us. ”For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” ”If any man serve me, let him follow me: and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.”