The deepest desire that people have is to be happy. We taste little bits of happiness here and there in our day-to-day lives, just enough that we know what it is we seek, and enough that we know we don't feel happy all the time.
Life is full of pain and disappointment. A lot of this hurt comes directly from the wrongs that people do to each other because of selfishness and malice. This is the source of jealousy, prejudice, hatred, theft, murder and a whole lot of other evils. Many other evils have little to do with people's intervention: natural occurrences like disease, accidents, hurricanes, and that faithful specter, death, are all evils that contribute to the misery which is the human lot in life.
But deep in our hearts we know that there should be a state of being where we experience pure happiness with no pain. Our lives are directed around trying to achieve this state. Children live to do little other than eat, play and sleep, all of which give some measure of happiness. Adults learn that food doesn't come free, and that responsible adulthood is a constant tradeoff between work and play: how little work can I get away with to get as much play as possible? Yet as we try to meet our physical needs, we become increasingly conscious that what we really seek are not outward things that make us happy, like warm clothes that cover us, but rather inner sources of peace and joy deep within our hearts.
We will never be truly happy in our lives until we find our purpose of living. If a carpenter makes a chair, then what's the purpose of the chair's existence? It's the purpose for which its maker made it: to provide a seat for people to sit upon. As long as people sit on that chair, the chair's purpose is fulfilled. Similarly, the purpose of a human being is the purpose for which humans are created: to do the will of God our Maker, and to enjoy Him forever. Unless we fulfill this purpose, we can never experience the peace and joy that He planned for us, without which we are incomplete.
It's easy to find fake substitutes for this need that gnaws at our souls. Life is full of many good things that God has given us, like wealth, fame, sports glory, beauty, friends and family; things that give us temporary happiness as we enjoy them. They give us a short-lived warm rush, but none of these things is really real when it comes to giving lasting happiness that bubbles constantly like a gentle mountain spring. No matter how good the things are that we try to fill our lives with, as long as they are not God, we will still be empty. We were created with a need for His presence in our hearts, and when He is absent there is a gaping hole that nothing else can fill.
But if we are created to serve and enjoy God, then how come most of us don't experience His presence in our lives? The simple reason is that our sins disconnect us from God. Sin is anything wrong that we do; some examples are: drunkenness, gossip, hatred, lust, lying, selfishness, sex with someone you're not married to, slander, stealing, unforgivingness, failing to do what you know is right.) God is perfectly good, and He just can't stand any wrongdoing. It makes Him so mad that He punishes sinners with separation and suffering in Hell forever. If this sounds incredibly harsh, that's because it is. God hates sin that much, and He is determined to rid His creation of all sinfulness once and for all. He will separate all sinners from Himself for all eternity.
But how can God be so cruel as to punish all sinners, small and great, with a torment as terrible as an eternal Hell? God will punish each sinner according to the seriousness of their sins, but the punishment for even the "lightest" sinner is still damnation in Hell forever. It's not a matter of how "bad" we've been, but a matter of how badly God hates sin: badly enough to send all sinners to Hell.
But then who would escape, if that's the case? No one would, except that God has provided a way out. Although God hates sin with a terrible anger, He is loving and merciful, and His mercy triumphs over His judgment. That's why He sent His Son Jesus to provide an escape from His fearful wrath. Jesus took up the sins of the world upon Himself, so that whoever receives His sacrifice and follows Him can be forgiven. For this reason God killed His Son on the cross; Jesus willingly died so that those who believe in Him will not have to suffer in Hell. Everyone who rejects Jesus' sacrifice will face the full brunt of God's anger.
God fully accepted Jesus' sacrifice. He proved this by raising Jesus from the dead, never to die again. Moreover, because Jesus is alive, He transforms the hearts of those who believe in Him so that they are no longer under the power of sin. God doesn't just wipe the slate clean then let believers go on sinning; He frees them to truly love Him, and God gives them the desire and the ability to obey His commands.
When a believer's sins are forgiven, God transforms him or her to truly love Him and want to do nothing but please Him. Then God's Spirit fills the believer's heart with peace and joy. This filling is a like a fountain of life welling up out of the believer's heart. This is the fulfillment of the purpose for which God created us.
Of course, as long as we live in this world, pain and sorrow will continue. People continue to sin, natural catastrophes still happen. But in the middle of life's storms Jesus within a believer provides a deep calm that all the troubles in this life cannot disquiet. He is always present with His loving kindness. He gives true peace, true joy, true happiness amidst the precarious turmoil of this life.
The presence of Jesus in a believer's present life is a foretaste of the perfect and total happiness that God will give later on after He destroys this Earth as we know it, and establishes His physical, eternal kingdom. Then all pain and sorrow will vanish, and the lovers of God will enjoy Him and His creation forever in perfect happiness. This is the Gospel, the Good News, that Jesus came and taught.
To learn more about what the Bible says about happiness and Jesus, read: ; ; ; ; . Here are some more verses about peace: ; ; ; ; ; . And here are some more about joy: ; ; . For a good, broad reading about how Jesus meets our deepest desire, read the entire book of .
If you have any questions or comments about fulfilling the purpose of God in your life and receiving the happiness that God wants you to have, or you want a free Bible, please contact Chitu by e-mail at chitu@okoli.org, or write me at 3190 CEBA, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. I encourage you to grow in your experience of Jesus' life by the daily practice of talking to Jesus (), reading the Bible (), and fellowshipping with other people who truly love Jesus ().