The comedian Ken Dodd once sang a song that he had more than his fair share of happiness. He actually went on to say it was the greatest gift that he possessed!
Happiness, happiness, the greatest gift that I possess.
I thank the Lord that I’ve been blessed with more than my share of happiness.
I wonder what you would put down as the greatest gift you possess? Certainly, happiness is something that everyone wants and why not. The question is what is happiness? This one word is spoken to all of us once a year and for some of us twice a year. One is at the beginning of a new year and the other is on our birthday. The word is happy. We wish each other happy for that particular day or year. I believe there is another word called blessed found in the Bible. So is happiness and blessed the same?
I love this quote from Greg Laurie found at Christianity.com
So what does it mean to be blessed? The word blessed Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount is from the Greek word makarios, which means to be happy or blissful, but it also means a self-contained happiness. The Greeks called the Island of Cyprus “the happy isle.” They believed that because of its geographical location, perfect climate, and fertile soil that anyone who lived in Cyprus had it made in the shade. And the term they associated with the island was makarios. They believed everything you needed to be happy was right there in Cyprus.
Greg Laurie
We can’t all move to Cyprus, but the idea is that our happiness is independent of our circumstances. It is self-contained, meaning that regardless of what is happening to us externally, we can be truly happy internally. We can be genuinely blessed as followers of Jesus Christ.
Today as a world, we are longing for the lockdown to end and perhaps being able to go on holiday, sports, horse riding etc will bring about happiness once again. Having food, home, car job etc should give us a sense of happiness. Yet there are many people throughout the world who do not have these.
I agree to some degree the above will give us happiness. Can I ask you to consider another way – a relationship with Jesus Christ? For me knowing there is just someone there who knows all I‘m experiencing, understands and is able to come alongside and provide for me keeps me going and motivated.
Yes, sometimes blessings or happiness does not involve just possessions. The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and 6 shows us Jesus teaching on that subject and it is not all plain sailing. Suffering, rejection, people insult you, mistreat you, and tell all kinds of evil lies about you, wow that cannot be happiness surely?
You know for over 2,000 years nothing has changed in the sense Christians throughout the world are persecuted and killed for just being followers of Jesus. Yes even in 2021. Yet they suffer it because they have an internal relationship that far supersedes external possessions.
Next week I am starting an Alpha Course which I invite you to join which gives an insight into why people know the true definition of Happiness (Blessed). Click this link for more information.
Stay Safe Blessed.