Do you want to be happy? Jesus has the recipe for Happiness

Recipe for Happiness

JESUS HAS THE RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS

Mt. 5:1-12

Jesus looked around Him and saw many people were not happy.   They were confused and misguided.  Their sense of values was upside down.  They were living for the wrong reasons.  It was inevitable that they should be sad.  He was aware of His own happiness and wanted to share it with others and so He made a study of happiness and gave it to us in today's Gospel.  To be happy, Jesus says, we need to have these eight qualities.

Firstly, we must be “poor in spirit”, which means being humble, not relying on our own resources, but learning to depend entirely on God.  A proud and arrogant man can never be happy - at least not for very long.  If he is forever trying to prove his importance, both to himself and to others, there will always be someone who will deflate his ego. 

It also means being detached from the things of this world.  If all life means to me is asserting myself and acquiring possessions, and if losing material things is a major catastrophe, I can hardly say I am detached and poor in spirit.

Secondly, Jesus says that the happy person is the one who “mourns” which sounds like a contradiction, but it simply means that he or she are sensitive, feeling people.  They experience life with their hearts.  They are aware of what is going on around them. 

Life in this world is a combination of good news and bad, triumph and tragedy, laughter and tears.  If we are going to experience one, we must experience the other.  If we are going to be involved with people, we must share their sadness as well as their gladness.  As Saint Paul said to the Romans, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep."

Thirdly, Jesus says the happy people are “meek and lowly” because they have a higher authority than themselves, to which they owe and give allegiance.  That makes sense.  If the biggest thing in my world is me, that means two things; one, I am a know-all which can never be because there is only one who is omniscient and He is God.  And two, I am selfish - the only thing that really matters is what I want.  If that is the case, how can I be happy if I am know-all and selfish? 

This truth can easily be observed in the lives of children.  To my knowledge, I have never seen an arrogant and selfish child who was happy.  The same holds true for you and me, as adults.  When life is out of control, there is no happiness.

Fourthly, Jesus says the happy person is one who has “a hunger and a thirst for holiness”. Although, is it not true that most of us shy away from this beatitude because, if there is anything we don't want others to call us, that would be a 'holy Joe’? 

But that isn't the meaning of the word.  Holiness means we want God to be at the very centre of our lives.  If we are right with God we are going to be right with others and with our world.  And so we are bound to be happy.  There can no happiness without holiness.

Fifthly, Jesus says happy people are those who show “mercy” because they are aware of their own sinfulness and their need of God's forgiveness, and in turn are merciful to others.  They are kind and compassionate in their dealings. 

We can observe this from our own experience.  When we fail to forgive others we may feel superior for a moment, but when we come to our senses, we don't really like ourselves.  So how can we be happy?

The sixth beatitude, Jesus tells us, is that happy people are “pure in heart” and single-minded.  To have this purity of intention is very difficult.  Everything we do, even our finest deeds, involves some degree of mixed motives.  We have to try not to lead double lives, but to be as genuine as our human nature will allow.  We cannot be happy if we are not single-minded and pure in heart. 

This beatitude always means we must try to have a pure mind which will never allow pornography to lower our dignity as a child of God.

Seventhly, Jesus says to be happy requires us to be a “peacemaker”.  Happy people are actively engaged in the business of bringing other people together to live in harmony.  They have the art of easing tense situations.  Their words are like seeds of unity and peace.  When they talk about others they try to stress the positive and complimentary things about them.  Their words are not derogatory.  They are truthful and fair.  Peacemakers are, indeed, happy people.

Finally, Jesus says those who “suffer persecution for the sake of holiness” are happy people.  Perhaps we know little or nothing of that experience.  We may never have been persecuted for our faith. This does not mean that we should go out and try to get into trouble in order to prove our loyalty to Christ!  But it does mean that we should be loyal to Him, whatever the cost may be.  Then, if persecution comes, with God's grace we are prepared for it.  God will give us the courage to be brave for Him and to fight His cause.  That brings its own happiness.

 Lord Jesus, within us all there is this desire to be happy.  Thank you for giving us the beatitudes, the recipe for happiness.  If we follow Your instructions we will be the happy people of this world.

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