Special Insights No. 10
Second Quarter 2007
Adult Sabbath School Lessons
“Thy Word Is a Lamp Unto My Feet”
(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)
The Bible and Happiness
This week, we will allow E.
J. Waggoner, one of the “1888 messengers,” to “speak”
to the topic.
“FOR a person to live and die happy, he must
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” These words we lately saw in
a religious journal and have very often heard similar expressions. The
utterance of such a sentiment gives evidence of a very crude idea of
religion and its object. We think that such a view of religion is injurious,
for the following reasons:—
- It fosters selfishness, which is directly opposed to true religion.
To make happiness the sole or the principle incentive for gaining
religion, is to direct the attention of the individual to himself
rather than to God. Love should be the mainspring of every act of
the Christian. The reward of the righteous, and the punishment of
the ungodly are both set before us, to stimulate us both by hope and
by fear; yet these are not the main incentives. “Perfect love
casteth out fear.” It is certain that when one is imbued with
the spirit of Christ, who said, “My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me, and to finish His work,” he will not do his
work through fear of the consequences if he should neglect it. At
the birth of Christ the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:14. And the
first commandment is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,”
while the second is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
In true religion there is no place for thoughts of self; the glory
of God, and the welfare of our fellow-men comprise our whole duty.
All the thought the Christian has to take of self is to keep himself
unspotted from the world.
- The idea is injurious because it tends to discouragement of those
who hold it. If a man thinks that happiness is the sure and invariable
result of belief in Christ, he will surely be discouraged when trouble
comes, as it certainly will. When the Thessalonians were in distress,
Paul wrote to them “that no man should be moved by these afflictions;
for yourselves know that we are appointed there unto.” 1 Thess.
3:3. It is enough for the disciple if he has his Lord, and he was
“a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief.” So he says
to his followers: “If they have persecuted me, they will also
persecute you.” “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever
killeth you will think that he doeth God service.” “In
the world ye shall have tribulation.” True, the Christian will
be “joyful in tribulation,” yet it will be tribulation
still.
- The idea that happiness is a constant accompaniment of belief in
Christ, is injurious, because it tends to produce false hopes. The
careless sinner and the professor who is “at ease in Zion,”
having this idea, a fancy that they are in a good ease. They have
no trouble, therefore they think the Lord must be pleased with them.
They forget that “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth.” Pious Job was afflicted almost
beyond conception, while the wicked in whom David saw were not in
trouble as other men, neither were they plagued like other men. They
were in prosperity, and had more than heart could wish. And this was
just because they were wicked. The devil can well afford to let his
servants dwell in peace, but “all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
A happy death is not in itself any evidence of a person’s piety,
nor an assurance that he is sure of final happiness. The psalmist says
of the wicked, “There are no bands in their death; but their strength
is firm.” Ps. 73:4. On the other hand, a good man may, like Hezekiah,
be in sore distress at the thought that he is near death.
In a word, the honor and glory of God should be placed before our own
happiness. Indeed, happiness should never be sought. If we seek for
happiness, it will be sure to escape us, although we may be satisfied
with a spurious article. If we glorify God, that is of itself true happiness
or blessedness, for Christ declares that they that mourn are happy.
And this should show the folly of trusting to feeling in any
case. The basis of the Christian’s hope and trust is not feeling,
but knowledge. In the midst of terrible trial he can say, “I know
that my redeemer liveth;” and although he may feel that because
of poverty and low station, he is despised by men, if he keeps “the
commandments of God and faith of Jesus,” he may have, not the
feeling, but the assurance that he pleases God. (“Religion
and Happiness,” The Signs of the Times, June 17, 1886,
pp. 358, 359.)
ANOTHER beautiful new year has come. Brothers and
sisters, schoolmates and friends have wished you a “Happy New
Year.” But I want you just to stop a minute and think, while I
ask you a question, “Are you happy—fully happy?” Perhaps
you will know better what I mean if I tell you about eight gentleman
who once were asked that same question.
They were old friends travelling together. Suddenly they asked one
another, “Are you happy—fully happy?”
The banker was the first to reply. He said: “I have earned a
large fortune. I have all the money that I possibly can need during
my whole lifetime. I have a charming family. My wife and children do
all that they possibly can to make home pleasant for me. Yet I am not
happy. There is one thing which troubles me so much that it poisons
all my joy; that one thing is the thought that all these goods, these
riches, this dear family, are not lasting and that soon very I shall
lose them for ever.”
The colonel, who had been the commander of many soldiers said: “I
have known the joys of a soldier, and the triumphs of war. How proud
I have felt, when, at the head of my soldiers, I have overcome the enemy;
or when, after the victory, I saw my name honourably mentioned by the
commander-in-chief. But one day, seeing an officer lying on the battle-field
dying, I tried to lift him up. ‘Thank you,’ said the dying
one, ‘but it is too late! We must all die: think about it!’
And with his last breath, he said again, ‘We must all die!’
I never, never can forget it. These terrible words follow me day and
night. I have some moments of joy; but, alas! my friends, I am not fully
happy.”
The next gentleman who answered the question was a very learned man
who had done business for his country among other nations. He said:
“Honours have been heaped upon me. Public gratitude has met me
at every step. Yet I want something I know not what; my heart is empty.
All my honours do not cure the secret longings of my heart.”
The poet said: “Even in my youth I had a wonderful gift for writing
poetry. It was received with world-wide praise. Very many told me that
my glory was immortal. But what is such an immortality? The flattery
of men does not satisfy me. I desire a better immortality. And as I
have no surety of ever receiving that, I am not fully happy.”
The man of the world said: “I have no such bitter complaints
to make. It is true I feel rather weary sometimes, but what of that?
I try still to be gay. I go to the theatre, to balls, to concerts, and
to all sorts of amusements.” “But,” said one of his
friends, “when old age, sickness, and poverty come upon you, what
will become of your amusements?” “Then,” replied the
worlding, “I suppose I shall have to give them up.” “But,”
continued his friend, “when you think that you may sometimes lose
your pleasures, are you fully happy?” “No,” replied
the man of the world, in a low tone, “I am not truly happy.”
The old lawyer said: “I am now seventy years old. I have health,
fortune, a good name, and a pleasant home. I used to fret and look anxiously
forward to this time of leisure and rest. But now that I have it, the
hours seem too long. I get tired of my newspapers and books, and do
not know what to do with myself. I am not fully happy.”
Then the gentlemen who professed to be a Christian, but really was
not, said, “I believe in God. Every day I read my Bible, and pray.
On the Sabbath my place is never empty in the house of God. But my conscience
is not easy; I do not get any peace and happiness out of it. Death,
which is stealing on, fills me with fright. I always see in God a severe
and angry Judge; and the thought of appearing before Him with my many
sins, fills me with dread. No, I am not happy at all.”
The eighth gentleman was a true Christian physician. He said: “My
dear friends, I am not surprised to hear you say what you do. The Bible
teaches, and we have proved it true, that neither money, glory, honours,
knowledge, or anything else in this world, can make us fully happy.
God has created us for Himself; and, so long as we do not give ourselves
to Him, we are filled with uneasiness and longing. In my youth I did
not know how to be a Christian, and although I did well in my business,
I tasted no happiness. But, by the goodness of God, I have been shown
a better way. The reading of the Bible showed me that I was a sinner,
and that unless I received help, I certainly would be lost. Then I read
about how Christ came and suffered and died to be my Saviour. Since
then I have turned my eyes to Him, in sorrow for the sins that caused
Him to suffer. I believed that He would forgive, because He said so.
And He has washed my sins all away, and has given me peace and joy more
than words can tell. I trust Jesus, take Him for my best Friend, and
with the strength He gives me, try daily to live as He would if He were
in my place.” “You, then, are fully happy?” Said one
of the company. “Yes, my friend, I trust in Him who gave His own
Son that I might be happy in this world and in the world to come.”
Now, my dear child, are you fully happy? The Bible alone points
out the way to true happiness. Do you read your Bible? Have you given
yourself to Jesus? Are you every day trying to be like Him? Do you earnestly
ask Him to help you? and do you believe that He does? If so, you then
have the happiness which man cannot give, and man cannot take away.
It begins on this earth, and is perfected on the new earth, where there
is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore.
Please learn this little verse, and repeat it every day during the
new year: “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for
his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.” Ps. cxlvi. 5. (“Are
You Happy?,” The Present Truth, Dec. 29, 1892, p. 413.)
—Compiled by Paul E. Penno
(Note: A series of CDs on these lessons recorded
by this Robert J. Wieland is available from the office of the 1888 Message
Study Committee: 269-473-1888.)
Listen to the audio recording for Lesson 10 now in MP3 format.
Read Special Insights 11 |