“The irony of believing this lie is that people who think they deserve to be happy, and who pursue pleasure as the highest good, tend to be the unhappiest people of all. When we believe we deserve to be happy, we move on to other lies about finding happiness. . . . We somehow believe happiness is something we pursue.”- Kyle Idleman
As Kyle Idleman concludes Chapter 6 of Don’t Give Up, he discusses the third lie we believe and the truths from God that set us free.
Lie #3: You deserve to be happy. Pastor Idleman observes that we really, really want this lie to be true. Therefore, we make decisions based on this lie all the time. Furthermore, if it were true, we’d have clear sailing to go headlong into doing whatever makes us happy at that moment.
However, there’s one catch. Short-term happiness almost always leads to long-term regret. Kyle offers three reasons:
- You begin to believe that whatever makes you feel happy must be right. Conversely, then, whatever makes you unhappy must be wrong. Often, though, what makes you happy in the long run creates displeasure in the present moment.
- You start thinking God exists to serve you and provide circumstances to make you feel good. The truth – you exist to serve God.
- You run a great risk of walking away from God.
In conclusion, Kyle explains what’s sometimes called the pleasure paradox or the happiness illusion:
“The harder you chase after happiness, the more elusive it becomes. It turns out that the pursuit of happiness is the shortcut to misery in a clever disguise. We think happiness is found by pursuing pleasure, when all the time true happiness is pursuing us in the form of God’s love. . . . Every good gift, every pure happiness, originates in him, so that when we discover that he is all that we need, we find a happiness that never runs dry.”
Today’s question: Who do you find are the unhappiest people of all? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Giving up on God – a slow fade”
