TUNE IN: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | PANDORA | AMAZON MUSIC
Have you ever heard of or seen the movie, “The Pursuit of Happiness”? In that movie, Will Smith is trying to figure out what it would take to make him feel happy. And it reminds me of a rich, young ruler in the story of Matthew. He’s trying to figure out what it would take to receive salvation and Jesus tells him to sell all of his belongings and come to follow him. This upset the ruler because he had many earthly possessions that he would not let go of. He chose temporary satisfaction by hanging on to his belongings rather than giving up everything to follow Jesus. He chose to pursue happiness…instead of holiness. In the end, it cost him greatly.
This is such a reality for so many. We spend so much of our lives trying to pursue happiness…trying to find things that make us happy, whether it’s possessions, people, money, activities, etc. The problem with this is that all of those things really can only provide temporary happiness. They give us that “feel good” moment. But it’s just that, a moment. If we keep searching for things that make us happy, we’ll never really feel fully satisfied. Because real, deep-rooted happiness? It doesn’t come from any of that. It comes from Jesus. It comes from pursuing holiness.
So, what is holiness? It’s the process of sanctification. It’s the process of learning and growing and following Jesus. It’s giving up anything and everything that we’re pursuing more than Jesus. It’s a desire and craving to pursue Him more than the temporary satisfaction of the things that make us happy here on earth. It’s following him relentlessly with everything you have and everything you are, with your entire being.
Happiness and deep-rooted joy come as a byproduct of holiness. Happiness on its own will fade away and will never measure up to the pursuit of holiness.
I dive even deeper into this on the podcast, including what I call The Mount Blessing Objective which is a reality check on where blessing and wisdom truly comes from (it may not be what you think). Plus, I’m sharing how you can begin to pursue holiness, rather than happiness, with one simple thing that can be carried out in several ways.
