Topic: Key to Happiness [Saturday May 30, 2015]
Text: Matthew 5:7-9
Key Verse: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
We go to great length in pursuit of happiness in life. We spare neither expense nor efforts to obtain what promises to give us lasting joy. We enthusiastically adopt and practice all the formulas recommended by so-called experts. Yet, happiness remains elusive. The preacher in the book of Ecclesiastes summarizes this baffling situation well, when he exclaimed: “Whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them”.
Obviously then, true happiness lies elsewhere. And the Lord Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, finally unveiled the key to genuine and lasting happiness in this life, and in the life after death. He said that real happiness lies in showing mercy to others, for only then can we obtain mercy ourselves. We are happy when we have pure hearts – free from any spot or stain, malice or hatred, animosity or prejudice – for such qualifies us to see God. Peace-making also has the capacity to give us happiness, and rightly earn us recognition as children of God.
As a believer, you should not live to please or satisfy yourself. While you should patiently bear your problems, you must at all times seek to relieve those in misery and need. The greatest expression of this is to show compassion and pity to sinners and do all in your power to bring them to Christ. And it is holiness that enables you to imbibe the attributes of God, to be loving and compassionate, to be happy and heaven-bound.
The realization that one day you will see God, makes everything else pale into insignificance. There is no offence you cannot take; there is no suffering you cannot bear. Your preoccupation is to be a peacemaker, and to truly show that you are a child of God. The question is: have you found this key or are you chasing mere shadows in pursuit of happiness?
Bible in One Year: Micah 5-7
Thought for The Day: Holiness unlocks the door of happiness and gives access to heaven.
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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