What are you building your life on? Things, people, status, money, cars, or clothes? What happens once you’ve received these things? We have seen this time after time – people reach what they thought was their ultimate goal (the Lottery, Super Bowl, that big promotion, that “special” person, etc.) and come out on the other side feeling emptier than before, and full of all the wrong things to fill their voids. It begs answering the question”Is this it?”
Shawn Anchor, author of The Happiness Advantage, studied this very question, “Does happiness come before success or success before happiness?” Anchor, a Harvard graduate, researcher, and educator, found that the theory of our emotional and physical wellness being by-products of our productivity and performance is actually a myth. Advances in positive psychology show that through deeper investigation the opposite is true. He writes,
“Study after study shows that happiness precedes important outcomes and indicators of thriving. In short, based on the wealth of data compiled, happiness causes success and achievement, not the opposite.”
To sustain happiness, happiness must precede that big thing, outcome, goal, etc. So how do we become truly happy?…
By building our life around JESUS.
The Bible says your body is a temple…your home. When constructing a home you have to build on solid ground and that rock-solid terrain is Jesus. Tacoma’s own Rich Wilkerson, Jr, who later moved to Miami and is now a pastor at the Vous Church, wrote a powerful book on this topic entitled, Sandcastle Kings: Meeting Jesus in a Spiritually Bankrupt World. He tells the story written in the book of Matthew, when Jesus told the parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock (God). “The rain came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock (Matthew 7:25).” But, when the same storm came, the man who built his house on sand saw his home fall with a great crash.
Many people build their house on sand (things of this earth). When rain and storms come, that house will come tumbling down and be destroyed. The common theory is, if we have more, we will be happier. However, people, money, prestige, power, even religion won’t keep us happy. A life built on these things will not stand amongst a storm. Only Jesus will. God made you unique and special – just the way you are. Once you understand that, and truly embrace how you are designed perfectly different from anyone else and fully equipped to handle what may come your way, you can withstand and embrace all storms.
Building your life around Jesus will bless you immeasurably more than you can imagine. Happiness is rooted from an abundant love and eternal life with Jesus.
Once we have that established, that He is our rock, our stability, our happiness, we can begin to construct the best version of ourselves. Every house is built within two things: a foundationand a roof.
If we build our foundation on GRATITUDE and live under the roof of SERVICE, we can protect ourselves from storms, deception, temptation, and doubt. WE CAN BUILD TRUE HAPPINESS.
Tomorrow, we will dive into the power of gratitude.