As we expose the American Idols - those things besides God that we are tempted to worship, emulate, or believe will save us - that loom over our land, we would be wise to go back to our Founding Fathers in order to be reminded of the values upon which our country was established. Remember, of course, these famous words from the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Now, I’m not much of a history buff, but I find it interesting that they considered the pursuit of happiness to be a God-given right for each individual. Whatever may have prompted them to include that phrase, it has certainly been prophetic, as I look around at a culture doing all it can to entertain me and make me happy.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Idol #4 – the Idol of Personal Pleasure. Let us all stand for its anthem, as sung by Sheryl Crow: “If it makes you happy, it can’t be that bad.”
Now, before you accuse me of being just another wet blanket Christian who can’t stand people having fun, hear me out. I believe in the pursuit of happiness. I believe God wants us to pursue happiness with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind. I just strongly disagree with our culture’s definition of happiness. The way I see it, our culture teaches us that the happiest person is rich, good-looking, comfortable, a success in all they do, with all the pleasures of the world at their disposal. They have got all the latest toys, they are enjoying great food, great drink, and great sex, and they’ve got all the free time they could want to do all of the things they’ve always wanted to do. In short, they’ve got everything they could ever want right at their fingertips.
Everything except (as most of them ironically discover) true happiness.
The false gospel of the Idol of Personal Pleasure is that true happiness is found in living the American “good life” of comfort, freedom, and pleasure. Our American landscape is littered with temples that have been erected in service to this Idol – from spas to casinos, all-inclusive resorts to cruise ships. And millions of pilgrims make the trip every year to that Mecca of Personal Pleasure, Las Vegas, where for a few days you can try to be rich, successful, and experience as much pleasure as possible.
The Entertainment Capital of the World
But the real truth underneath this false gospel is that true happiness isn’t tied to what we own, or how much free time we have, or how easy we have it. There are plenty of miserable rich people and happy poor people, lots of depressed people living the “good life” and lots of people living with deep joy in the projects. True happiness isn’t found in the American “good life” of comfort, freedom, and pleasure; no, there is something much deeper, much more fulfilling than that.
Once again, I believe in the pursuit of happiness. I just think American is looking in the wrong place. Consider what C.S. Lewis wrote in his book The Weight of Glory:
Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
John Piper, a pastor and writer from Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, wrote an incredible book a few years ago called Desiring God, where he used the provocative term “Christian hedonism” to describe how we are called by God to pursue pleasure, but that the deepest and most enduring happiness is found not in the things of this world but in God. You may be familiar with the Westminster Catechism, which states that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” Piper argues that a better way to word it is that “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” We are given the opportunity to enjoy the creator and giver of all beauty and joy – as the Psalmist writes, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). The Christian hedonist pursues God with all of his heart, soul, strength, and mind, knowing that nothing will satisfy the void in the human heart more than a deep, intimate relationship with God. Unfortunately, most of us are instead scrambling around trying to fill that void with the ephemeral pleasures of the world.
Now, this is a difficult thing to understand for anyone who has never really experienced God, never really enjoyed him, so to speak. For most people, the only experience of God is a boring church service, which is hardly more exciting than watching a favorite football team on TV or shopping for a new pair of shoes. Don’t make the mistake of believing that a relationship with God can be reduced to attending a weekly church service. A relationship with God is meant to be a dynamic interaction where we become part of God’s mission to take back this world, to bring life where there is death, justice where there is injustice, hope where there is despair, love where there is hatred, salvation where there is slavery. A relationship with God means being “seized by the power of a great affection,” experiencing a love that reaches to the core of who we are and empowers us to transform the world by that very love. It is joining the God of the universe in giving and serving and sacrificing until lives are transformed and the world is made right again. It is coming to the end of one’s life and realizing that God has given you the privilege of joining Him in changing the world, and that you are about to spend eternity praising and enjoying the very One who has loved and changed you. This is the happiness that we were created to enjoy.
The Founding Fathers were right that God has created us to pursue happiness. Unfortunately, most of America is looking in the wrong place. Jesus once said that “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44). May you discover that same joy, a joy that would cause you to give up all the ephemeral pleasures of this world and pursue the only happiness that will ever really fulfill you.
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