PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
This is the most abused term nowadays. Everybody seems to be always in pursuit of happiness. Happiness is something very temporary. It is the attainment of a short term goal. It is the satisfaction of the immediate needs of man. But is the pursuit of happiness beneficial to man in the long run? Remember, the pursuit of happiness is anchored in the immediate gratification of man's wants. People call it freedom to do what they want to do, without any restrictions , without any fear. They call it freedom from fear. But where does this pursuit of happiness leads man?
To tell you the truth, it leads man to perdition and eventually, to slavery to sin. Sin is something man enjoys for it is a violation of a restriction or command, and man loves to violate every command and every restriction there is. But John 8:34 says, "Jesus replied, 'I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." Why? Because although sin is enjoyable at the start, it becomes addictive, and without man noticing it, it eventually becomes the master of the sinful man. It attains a life of its own. Man, who used to enjoy and wallow in sin, now becomes entangled in its deadly web and is unable to disobey the harsh voice of its tyrant master and break free from its strangle hold. And man becomes more miserable than when he first started.
Not only did he veer away from the dictates of his conscience, he has chained himself to slavery under the grip of the lord of this world- Satan. And in the end, the pursuit of happiness becomes a short cut on the road to hell. The Bible warns us about this when it says, "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) Let us be included in the few who enters the narrow gate and eventually finds eternal life.
Tags: Pursuit of Happiness, Freedom From Restrictions, Freedom From Fear, Narrow Gate, Destruction, Eternal Life
Posted by: Mel Avila Alarilla
