Happiness Is

I was watching Fox News one morning and listened to the reporter tell of Aarhus, Denmark, the happiest city in the world. Denmark is considered the happiest country in the world. When I googled happiest city in the world, other places showed up as #1, including Rio de Janerio (rated #1 by Forbes magazine).

From what I can find, Aarhus’ rating of #1 was made by National Geographic. NG based its rating on the studies of Dan Buettner, a contributor to National Geographic and author of Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way. In his book, Buettner presents the findings of his examination into one of the crucial factors in human longevity, happiness, and what makes people happy.

Here are some quotes from the NG online article “Secrets of the Happiest Places on Earth,” by Ford Cochran, an interview with Buettner. “Worldwide, happiness equates very strongly with equality–mostly status equality, but the countries that have a very short ladder between the richest and the poorest people are a lot happier than those where a few people make a lot of money and a few people don't make much money. . . We know that trust is hugely correlated with happiness, places where people are trustworthy and you can trust the government, low corruption. Also tolerance. . . We know worldwide that religious people are happier than non-religious people.”

Blogger Nicholas Kontis noted the following on the website Tripatini. “The Danes indeed have richness in life. You don't have to lock your doors. Free health care, good schools, diverse places of worship, bars, cafes, social clubs, forests, and never far from the sea. Transportation mostly by bike. And very few lawyers. as business is settled with a handshake. And your word holds valid in this city of 300,000 people.”

Several things come to mind in considering the “happiest place on earth.” First of all, places are not happy and cannot make a person truly happy. No one, by moving to Aarhus or Rio, will be transformed magically from a sad, frustrated person to a happy, fulfilled individual. Happiness doesn’t work that way.

I read once about a pastor who asked all prospective brides and grooms if they could be happy if they were unable to marry their prospective mate. Those who said they could not be were advised to think seriously about getting married. You see, we cannot expect someone else (or somewhere else, for that matter) to be responsible for our personal happiness. We first must find happiness within ourselves. Only then will we be able to add to someone else’s well-being.

In Hebrew and Greek, two of the words typically translated blessed in the OT and the NT actually mean “to be happy or content.” Almost always, these words are found in contexts in which the contentment one experiences is a result of obeying God in some manner. I will paraphrase Psalm 1.1: “Content is the man who refuses to make his decisions and live his life according to the beliefs of cynical, unbelieving secularists. He instead finds his greatest pleasure in meditating on the Law of the Lord.” People are happy only by being in a proper relationship with God.

Further, I wonder how many people in places like Aarhus, Denmark, would be as happy if they suddenly lost all their creature comforts. Things can no more make one happy than a place can. We might find physical and emotional comfort in things, but we cannot find true contentment. Why? Consider what Paul told the Corinthians. “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our physical body is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the tings which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not see are eternal.”

Even physical health and well-being are not the source of true contentment. Our physical body and our physical creature comforts are all temporary. They will wear out, sooner or later. What God gives, though, cannot be taken away. The salvation we enjoy is ours through grace and is rooted in the timelessness of God himself. We cannot and should not ask God for anything more. Being his child is enough. Whatever he chooses for us is sufficient.

Actually, the happiest place on earth should be the church. The congregation of believers should be overflowing with gladness and joy. We should described today as the disciples were described in Acts 15.32: “And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

How happy are you?