2 Corinthians 10:3-5 and 1 Chronicles 12:32. Augustine: ‘A weeping man is better than a happy worm.’ Happiness will not stand on its own two feet. Compare a bitter woman in a wheelchair at last week’s anti-euthanasia rally to Joni Eareckson: ‘I’d rather be in this chair, knowing Him, than on my feet without Him.’
- We all desire happiness.
- the Epicureans thought that life was about minimising pain and maximising pleasure. So too Jeremy Bentham and the Utilitarians.
I sighed for rest and happiness,
I yearned for them, not Thee;
But while I passed my Saviour by,
His love laid hold on me.
I tried the broken cisterns, Lord
But, ah, the waters failed
E’en as I stooped to drink they fled
And mocked me as I wailed.
- the Epicureans thought that life was about minimising pain and maximising pleasure. So too Jeremy Bentham and the Utilitarians.
- God gives pleasures.
- Ps.16:11. The kingdom of heaven is like a great banquet (Luke 14:7-24; Matt.22:1-14). The Shorter Catechism: ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’
- God gives joy in Christ.
- Matt.5:1-12; John 15:11; Gal.5:22; Luke 2:10.
- Luke 10:19-20. Lachlan Mackenzie (1754-1819) wrote The Happy Man to describe the Christian life: ‘The happy man was born in the city of Regeneration in the parish of Repentance unto life.’
Augustine: ‘Happiness is to rejoice in You, and for You and because of You.’