Are you happy? I mean really happy?
What makes you happy?
Would a change of venue make you happy?
Are you happy even though the world is in the shape that it is?
Are you bummed out, concerned about what the future holds?
If the situation in the US and around the world gets increasingly worst will this affect your happiness?
If you had the power to change things, how would you change them to make you happy?
I thought I knew what happiness meant, but I don’t know anymore! Is this how you feel?
I believe that for many believers the reason they are not experiencing true happiness in their lives is primarily because they have bought into a lie – happiness is found in anything but God.
And who is the father of lies? The Devil (Jn 8:44)! Have you not been asked personally or heard what unbelievers ask Christians – “What do you do for fun?” The world doesn't associate happiness with Christianity.
So many Christians seek out the pleasures of the world in search of happiness apart from God only to find emptiness and misery or their lives in shambles. We allow the circumstances of life to drive us like cattle to the slaughterhouse of happiness. Here is the real scoop on happiness found in Psalm 1.
Happiness is linked to holiness; this is the secret of happiness - holiness.
This is the very reason the world chases an illusion of happiness. Happiness to the world is based upon circumstances, not holiness - I would be happy if _____. Their pursuit of happiness does not include any notion of God. We as believers that choose to ignore the secret of happiness are missing out on true happiness in the here and now, regardless of the circumstances.
Somehow God’s charge for us to be holy as He is holy (that’s the pattern) is viewed as Puritanical, restrictive, stifling, solemn, inflexible, and boring rather than the door to an abundant life where we can stretch our wings and soar like eagles.
And where do we learn to be holy? From the only tried and true source, the Word of God.
And we can deduce from that that the enemy of happiness is willful ignorance of God’s Word.
The enemy of our happiness is choosing to ignore God’s Word as the rule of life.
The secret of happiness is found in the entrance to the sacred sanctuary of the Psalms, Psalm 1.
Psalm 1 is about two men, two paths, and two destinies (222 = choice). From the very first word of this psalm, blessed (Psa 1:1), to its last word, perish (Psa 1:6), we see two polar opposites contained in this wisdom psalm that speaks of choices. In Psa 1:1-3 we see the way of the blessed man (godly, happy) who delights in God, and in Psa 1:4-5 the way of the unblessed man (ungodly, unhappy) who does not delight in God.
It is not an oversimplification to say that there are only two kinds of people in this world. It is not based on race, color, gender, fat or skinny, tall or short, pretty or ugly, smart or stupid, kind or mean, rich or poor, or strong or weak. All of mankind falls into one of two categories. One is an enormously large group and the other is, unfortunately, rather small (Mt 7:13). You probably already know what I am about to say, lost or saved.
The Psalter reveals through inspiration of the Holy Spirit that happiness is a choice. And we see the truth of this in Psalm 1. Happiness truly is based on choices and not circumstances. Finally in Psa 1:6 we see the happy man’s and the unhappy man’s destiny. It is also said that our destiny is not determined by the circumstances of life but by the choices that we make. This is in keeping with the teacing of Scripture.
Happiness in the here and now and our destiny in the hereafter are a matter of choice.
The meaning of happiness or success today is as relative as the weather, and we can see this with the myriads of personal definitions and interpretations of what happiness or success means to the vast number of people on the planet; everybody has an opinion. This leads us back to Psalm 1 to learn what God, the Creator of man, reveals to us on what makes a person really happy.
Happiness and success seem to go hand in hand. If you recall a couple of lessons back we defined biblical success as knowing and doing the will of God for our lives. Well, it would be proper to say that we could trade out the word success in this definition and replace it with the word happiness.
Happiness is knowing and doing the will of God for our lives.
This would make the biblical concept of success or happiness synonymous. Whatever God's will is for each one of our lives in any age, for any people, in any country, God will never contradict the Scriptures. Therefore, the meaning of success or happiness remains the same throughout the history of man until it reaches its conclusion in the future - knowing and doing God's will according to the Scriptures.
I believe this is what we will discover to be true as we study Psalm 1. Because God created man, He hardwired man a certain way so that happiness and joy could only be realized through a specific spiritual pathway and that spiritual pathway is found only in the knowing and the doing of God’s will for our lives. The problem with the ungodly is that there is an attempt to rewire the meaning of happiness and connect it with the stuff of the world and everything goes haywire in the process.
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Psalm 1:1
Blessed (H835, esher) This noun is never used of God, only of people, and usually as an exclamatory – Happy! This blissfulness is connected with wisdom in Proverbs 3:13; 8:32, 34. And it describes a person or nation enjoying a relationship with God (Deut 33:29; Job 5:17; Psa 33:12; 146:5), Zodi.
It is in the plural form here for emphasis on the blessednesses of the man, Happy! Happy! Is the man.
You will also see another word in the Bible for blessed (H1288, barak ). In Gen 9:6, Blessed be the LORD. This verb basically means to bless someone, Gen 1:22, or thing, Gen 2:3).
On July 4, 1776 the Second Continental Congress announced to the world, specifically Great Britain, that the thirteen colonies were now independent states and no longer part of the British empire. Of interest in our discussion on happiness this morning is the use of the word happiness twice in The Declaration of Independence (TDOI).
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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 [emphasis mine]. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness [emphasis mine].”
After reading TDOI in its entirety you can understand why the colonists were very distraught under the despotism of King George III (KG3) –
“The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States… Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people…"
TDOI was a declaration of separation from a tyrant’s rule. Along with tyranny comes a host of human rights violations of which KG3 was infamous for. We could sanctimoniously accuse the colonist of rebelling against government instituted by God (cf. Rom 13:1-5). KG3 wasn’t any worst than the Romans who loved to line the streets with crucifixions for people to see the agony and horror of a dying soul or smell the rotting corpse as an object lesson of the price of insurrection against Rome.
What about Martin Luther’s bold move to post his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the Church in Wittenberg, Germany on 10-31-1517 in protest against fraud and corruption in the Roman Catholic Curia? These Ninety-five theses resonated throughout Europe which brought about sweeping social changes.
What about revolting against Hitler’s Nazism?
If we think the colonialists were wrong in failing to recognize Romans 13:1-5, wouldn’t we have to quit enjoying our civil liberties bought by the blood of Patriots because of the American Revolution? Shouldn’t we be suffering from some kind of national guilt complex because our courageous forefathers put an end to KG3’s nightmares in colonial America? Perhaps we should in all good conscience and faith relinquish our independence back to Great Britain to atone for the sins of our forbearers? Maybe we should have just let the three major Axis powers, Germany, Japan, and Italy to subjugate the world? After all, they are governments. Now I realize I’m drifting away from the topic at hand, but not totally without reason.
The current discussion is about happiness not the merits of civil disobedience, but the point I am trying to make is that the pursuit of happiness in an historical political context, as a God-given right in the minds of the Patriots, was virtually forfeited in colonial America under KG3’s rule. They realized more than we do the value and vitality of happiness in a society by its loss. So much so that they included the pursuit of happiness as part of the trilogy of unalienable rights, furnished to all men by their Creator.
KG3 was usurping his authority by stripping the colonialists of what were deemed and valued as basic human rights for all men everywhere. KG3’s acts of atrocities against the colonies inevitably pressured those colonies “to dissolve the political bands” which impelled them to separate from England.
Such revolt against KG3 was not some arrogant, flippant, superficial, emotional emancipation. We are speaking about serious human rights violations, virtually ignored and perpetrated on the colonists as cataloged in TDOI.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes… But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Nearly 234 years later, the pursuit of happiness continues unabated. Our current generation does not link the pursuit of happiness to life and liberty, much less as being provided by God like our forefathers acknowledged. Today it is tied into stuff like power, pleasure, possessions, or a happy meal combo. Success or happiness has been redefined without any tie-in to God. This is significant in revealing how far we have moved away from God as a nation.
God is not seen as the giver of life; evolution makes that abundantly clear. Liberty is the result of human resolve and might. The meaning of happiness has become so relative that any notion of a divine definition is considered as outdated and irrelevant. Whatever happened to God who furnished us with “certain unalienable Rights” according to TDOI? Well, man has taken over that role which is the doctrine of humanism.
Success or happiness has been reshaped and defined by godless materialism – “he that has the most toys wins” mentality. Christianity is seen as a bunch of losers who need a God-crutch to get through life. Humanism teaches that man is the captain of his own ship sailing the boundless high seas of secularism as he charts his own course or destiny. The only thing important is the elevation of man in the here and now; discovering and reaching human potential to bring about true happiness…. Humanism is a total disregard and disrespect for God’s government causing many to reject and revolt against the truth of God.
There is no long train of abuses and usurpations by God for man to produce as evidence that God is an absolute Despot! No, humanism, by its own tenets, essentially heralds its declaration of independence of God. The real usurpation is humanism that has taken a paper scepter and declared man to be a god unto himself. Satan is the real Despot who through chicanery has duped man into believing that man is god and must “throw off” the government of God in one’s life, “We will not have this man reign over us!”(Lk 19:14)
Ironically, this will be at the cost of true happiness found only in Christ and the imperilment of man’s soul. In the revolution against God, revolutionaries for humanism cannot “provide new guards for their future security,” for there is no future for man or nation apart from the benevolent rule of God who is eternal and blessed forever.
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No one knows for sure who the Psalter of Psalm 1 is. But the Holy Spirit through the Psalter emphasizes the negatives over the positives in verse 1, contrary to human psychology which emphasizes the positives over the negatives. There are three negatives associated with the happy man that generate positive dynamics (Psa 1:2-3, 6a).
The Happy-Happy Man | The Unhappy-Unhappy Man |
Vertical Spiritual Living | Horizontal Worldly Living |
Narrow (Mt 7:13) | Broad (Mt 7:13) |
The way of the righteous (Psa 1:2-3, 6a) | The way of the ungodly (Psa 1:4-5, 6b) |
Walks not | In the counsel | of the ungodly | Walks | In the counsel | of the ungodly |
Nor stands | In the path | of sinners | Stands | In the path | of sinners |
Nor sits | In the seat | of the scornful | Sits | In the seat | of the scornful |
With the unhappy unhappy man
Notice that the physical energy required of the verbs decreases: walking, standing, sitting.
Notice the negative energy increases or intensifies: ungodly advice instructs to take the heavily traveled road of sinners which leads to the dwelling place of scoffers. “This signifies a progression from a casual influence of ungodly people to collusion with them in their scorn against the righteous”(BKC).
With the happy-happy man
Notice that he doesn’t follow the downward slope of the unhappy (ungodly) man. The key here is that the blessed man does not take delight or desire (cf. Psa 1:2) in the lifestyle of the ungodly which is why he walks not, nor stands, nor sits. His desire is directed somewhere else – in the law of the LORD (Psa 1:2). He lives a vertical lifestyle. This doesn’t imply that the happy man has no interaction with the wicked for we are called to be in the world but not of the world as witnesses of the matchless grace of Jesus.
Counsel (H6098) advice (encapsulated: everybody is doing it!). In this context the opinion of the world, the world’s moral judgments contrary to God’s law, alternative lifestyles, sex before marriage, lying, cheating, stealing, dirty or suggestive jokes, porno, drunkenness, et cetera. Doesn’t have to be as provocative as the aforementioned, it can be good moral people but having a secular horizontal mindset.
· Psa 33:10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
· Psa 33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.
· Psa 73:24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory.
· Psa 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, And despised the counsel of the Most High,
· Psa 119:24 Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors.
· Prov 1:25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
· Prov 19:21 There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the LORD's counsel—that will stand.
· Prov 21:30 There is no wisdom or understanding Or counsel against the LORD.
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Path (H1870) way. Lit or metaphorically a road, a course of life, journey. The path that is traveled. In this setting a secular life style, moral or immoral, without God, horizontal living.
· Psa 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
· Psa 18:30 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
· Psa 25:4 Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.
· Psa 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.
· Psa 77:13 Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; Who is so great a God as our God?
· Psa 86:11 Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
· Psa 119:1ff
· Psa 143:8 Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, For in You do I trust; Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, For I lift up my soul to You.
· Psa 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.
· Psa 146:9 The LORD watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.
· Prov 1:15 My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path;
· Prov 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
· Prov 4:14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil.
· Prov 4:26 Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.
· Prov 15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, But He loves him who follows righteousness.
· Prov 16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
· Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Seat (H4186) abode, dwelling place, a habitation. “Remaining or abiding in a given location” (Zodi). In this context the place of mockers, a horizontal secular mindset, moral or immoral.
· Psa 107:7 And He led them forth by the right way, That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
· Psa 107:32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, And praise Him in the company of the elders.
· Psa 132:13 For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place:
Again the significant truth about happiness embedded in Psa 1:1 is this.
Happiness is connected with holiness.
The happy-happy man does not walk, stand, or sit in the ways of the ungodly. Since happiness is a choice, in order for us to be truly happy we must be holy (cf. 1 Pet 1:15-16). We are commanded to be holy and must choose to obey God’s commandment. This is the key that unlocks the door to happiness. This is the way God has hardwired us. We will never find true happiness apart from holiness.
· Heb 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
· Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
· Jn 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Why are people unhappy? It stands to reason that if happiness is tied to holiness then people are spiritually unhappy because of ungodliness. In other words, walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful produce unhappiness. The way of the world does not yield happiness of the soul. There is no inner joy or peace apart from holiness. Power, pleasure, and possessions will not satisfy nor fill the emptiness. Unless Christ enters the heart a vacuum will remain within the chambers of one’s soul.
Listen, nobody is going to argue that King Solomon lacked the brains and the bucks. Other than Christ, he probably was the wisest man to have ever lived. As far as wealth, he probably was the richest man to ever have lived as well. He had it all, wisdom, power, and possessions. And what I find very interesting is that when you read his book entitled, Ecclesiastes, you will find that wisdom, pleasure, power, and possessions without God in a life is futile, vain, empty, and unsatisfying, but is this so surprising based upon the fact that happiness apart from holiness is impossible to achieve.
If you take the position that Ecclesiastes was written from the point of view of what life is like under the sun without God (this phrase occurs 27 times [NKJV] to refer to horizontal living, a life without God in it), all of life can be summed up in one big bummer kind of way: all is vanity.
A life lived under the sun apart from God is nothing short of vanity. Vanity (H1892) refers to the emptiness and meaninglessness of all things, good or bad, in this life. In the plural form it means absolute meaninglessness. It is used 33 times in the book of Ecclesiastes (NKJV). The unhappy (ungodly) man lives under the sun (horizontal living, horizontal outlook); the blessed or happy man lives above the sun (vertical living, vertical outlook). Thus Solomon concludes in his discourse of life under the sun,
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all.
Ecc 12:14 For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.
This is vertical living, the way to happiness and fulfillment – living above the sun, not under it, figuratively speaking. Happiness is vitally linked to holiness. It is the way that God designed us. That is why the ungodly man will never be truly happy until God enters his or her life as Lord and Savior.
Stuff only brings temporary, superficial happiness, not deep seated peace, joy, spiritual happiness, contentment, and fulfillment. The pursuit of real happiness is only realized when the heart receives Christ. The shallowness and emptiness of stuff will either drive one to Christ or to cynicism – Vanity of vanities … All is vanity [under the sun] (Ecc 12:8).
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Psalm 1:2
Delight (H2656) means pleasure, desire, matter. The root idea is to incline toward something. The inclination of the happy man is toward God’s Book. – in the law of the LORD.
· Psa 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.
Meditates day and night. Meditation is not an emptying of the mind of everything and waiting for impressions; this is a doorway to spiritual error. Biblical meditation is directed at a definitive object – His law.
Meditates literally means chewing the cud, to masticate, to ruminate, to reflect upon, cogitate, to memorize and study, to work it over, to think on it, to ponder, to extract from it, to take it in, et cetera.
· Psa 119:97 Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. It is a rule of life – day and night. It is habitual, not occasional.
· Jos 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
The happy happy man is separated from sin and secured to the Scriptures.
· Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day (Psa 119:97)
Happiness is linked to holiness, and holiness is based on God’s Book as a rule of life; it is the way of holiness, the only way.
· 2Pe 3:18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Practical holiness is Christ-likeness!
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Psalm 1:3
· Psa 92:12-14 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. (13) Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God. (14) They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,
· Jer 17:7 "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.
· Jer 17:8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
River the supply of nourishment and refreshment
Fruit
· Pro 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
· Mat 12:33 for a tree is known by its fruit.
· Joh 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
· Joh 15:8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
· Rom 6:22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.
· Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
· Eph 5:9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
· Jas 3:18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Season timely and appropriate
Leaf shall not wither (fade) Not subject to cyclical changes (BBC) “All the Lord’s trees are evergreen”( D.L. Moody) Talk about going green!
Whatever he does shall prosper living in fellowship and guided by the Holy Spirit
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Psalm 1:4
We see the ungodly as driven (Psa 1:4), doomed (Psa 1:5), dead (Psa 1:6)
Ungodly (wicked, “They may do kind and charitable deeds, but God’s evaluation of them is that they are without eternal merit” (BKC), hence, chaff.
Not so as to conduct or happiness
Chaff lack substance, without value, worthless
The wind drives away the idea of winnowing is in view here.
· Jer 17:5-6 Thus says the LORD: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD. (6) For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
· Jer 12:2 You are near in their mouth But far from their mind
· Mat 15:8 'THESE PEOPLE DRAW NEAR TO ME WITH THEIR MOUTH, AND HONOR ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.
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Psalm 1:5
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous The ungodly shall forever be excluded from the company of the righteous who are saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
· Mat 25:46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
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Psalm 1:6
· Mat 7:23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
The way (lifestyle, whole manner of life)
The way of the ungodly = walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting in the seat of the scornful. The way of the ungodly is unholy.
“We cannot emphasize too often, however, that a person's destiny is not determined by the way he lives. The determining factor is whether he has ever been born again by faith in Jesus Christ. The righteous person is the one who has confessed his sin and received the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. His righteous life is the result of his new life in Christ. The ungodly person is the one who refuses to acknowledge his need and to bow his knee to the Lord Jesus. He would rather keep his sin than have the Savior, and thus he seals his doom” (BBC).
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Postscript
Please note that at the end of this PS, is a copy of the Declaration of Independence conveniently provided for you should you care to read it. It is without a doubt one of the most instrumental documents of mankind (double click on TDOI to enlarge).
Psalm 1 teaches that there are two men, two paths, two destines. One is the way of the righteous and the other the way of the ungodly. Every man, woman, and child are in either group by choice (222 =choice), not by circumstances.
The profound truth in Psalm 1 is that real happiness is being holy as God is holy! We must choose which path to take. This is the way we were designed by our Creator. Apart from holiness no one shall see God. Only through salvation can we tap into the link to happiness. The secret to happiness is practical holiness, being Christ-like. In order for us to be holy as God is holy we have to obey His Word, making it the rule of life (2 Pet 3:18; Jn 14:15; 2 Tim 3:16-17).
So we see happiness as wired to holiness, and practical holiness is plugged into God’s Word. This reveals that the enemy to true happiness for a believer is willful ignorance and a direct violation of God’s command in 2 Pet 3:18, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God’s command for us to be holy as He is holy is not restrictive and restraining but liberating (Jn 8:32). Jesus said that He came that we might have life more abundantly, not just down the road in eternity but in the here and now as well (Jn 10:10). These things I have spoken unto you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full (Jn 15:11).
This is a profound truth about happiness in the life of a believer. Don’t lose the profundity of it through its simplicity. This is not complicated. It is either say yes to Jesus and no to the world or no to Jesus and yes to the world. But know this, just as our destiny is determined not by the circumstances of life but by the choices that we make, so it is with happiness. We when our hearts begin to drift away by choice from being holy, we move in the direction toward unhappiness; for sin produces unhappiness. Never forget that happiness is inextricably linked to holiness, and holiness is based upon God’s Word. Ignore the Word by failing to learn and apply it as a rule of life, and unhappiness is bound by nature to follow. This is how God has hardwired us all - no one will ever be truly happy apart from holiness.
222 = Choice
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In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. — The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislature, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attention to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
John Hancock
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
Geo. Walton
Wm. Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
Edward Rutledge
Thos. Heyward, Junr.
Thomas Lynch, Junr.
Arthur Middleton
Samuel Chase
Wm. Paca
Thos. Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Th. Jefferson
Benja. Harrison
Thos. Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Robt. Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benja. Franklin
John Morton
Geo. Clymer
Jas. Smith
Geo. Taylor
James Wilson
Geo. Ross
Caesar Rodney
Geo. Read
Tho. Mckean
Wm. Floyd
Phil. Livingston
Frans. Lewis
Lewis Morris
Richd. Stockton
Jno. Witherspoon
Fras. Hopkinson
John Hart
Abra. Clark
Josiah Bartlett
Wm. Whipple
Saml. Adams
John Adams
Robt. Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Step. Hopkins
William Ellery
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Wm. Williams
Oliver Wolcott
Matthew Thornton
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