All About Me

(excerpt from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

ANOTHER SCHOOL ASSIGNMENT required a variety of tasks to convey “All about Me.” Poems, narratives, songs, raps, art projects, picture displays, family trees, and a myriad of other activities were employed to describe characteristics such as “What makes me happy”; “Where I live”; and “What I want to be when I grow up.” What a challenge to communicate everything that makes me happy! Even in our earliest years, happiness is featured as the ultimate goal in life.

We want to be happy. God wants us to be happy. We want our spouses to be happy. We want our kids to be happy. We just want everyone to be happy. We especially want everyone to be happy with us. This is the American dream—we all deserve to be happy. But the American dream spawns the American nightmare. The pursuit of this dream leads to addiction, deviance, mental illness, and death because it is ultimately based in self-centeredness.

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. —Rom. 8:5–7 (NLT)

Solomon asserts that we are to pursue truth, not happiness. Why? People are incapable of discerning what is in their best interest. Proverbs cites the following reasons:

(1) We are given to self-justification.
“All a man’s ways seem right to him” (21:2 NIV).

(2) We are not capable of being satisfied.
“Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied,
      so human desire is never satisfied” (27:20 NLT).

(3) We are given to a delusion of happiness.
“They are pure in their own eyes,
      but they are filthy and unwashed” (30:12 NLT).

(4) We allow pride to prevail.
“Pride goes before destruction,
      and haughtiness before a fall” (16:18 NLT).

So what is the solution?
“Get the truth and never sell it;
      also get wisdom, discipline, and good judgment” (23:23 NLT).

“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.
      Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (3:7 NLT).

The ultimate reality is that God did not design happiness as our life goal. God designed us to be in an intimate relationship with Him. Therefore, all of our life endeavors should be fostering our connection to Him as we conform to His image.

What are you pursuing to make you happy?