By Ben McEachenSaturday 16 Mar 2024Hope MorningsLifeReading Time: 3 minutes
How is your happiness?
Key points
- “…people in the Western World are not all that happy, as we have turned inward for happiness,” Peter said.
- When we shape “happiness” in the light of right relationship with God through Jesus, we can see how the pursuit of happiness involved everybody else.
- “You don’t pursue happiness as an end in itself, but you pursue what you were created for and what you were made to be,” Peter said.
Whether it is doing well or not, your happiness tends to be defined by you.
But is happiness actually an individual choice?
Should you or I be setting our own standard of happiness, or is happiness much more communal?
Peter Ko is a pastor at South-West Evangelical Church in Western Sydney.
For a recent sermon series, Peter explored prominent elements of Australian life such as success and failure, control of our lives, and dealing with death.
He also shared why happiness is not a solo project.
Repeat: NOT a solo project.
But are you really happy?
As Peter told Hope Mornings, happiness in the Western World is a form of “expressive individualism”.
“We have this idea that we have to be the source of our own happiness, that no-one can define what happiness is [for us],” Peter said.
“It’s got to come from within; it can’t come from society or culture.”
“…people in the Western World are not all that happy, as we have turned inward for happiness,” Peter said.
Peter believes there is a bitter irony to our happiness being defined by us.
He noted the lamentable rise in loneliness or anxiety, alongside a collapse in community and volunteering.
Such indicators suggest that people in the Western World are not all that happy, as we have turned inward for happiness.
Community enterprise
A better approach to happiness is found in some of Jesus’ most famous words.
Peter pointed to the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, where those facing many challenges or difficulties are called “blessed”.
Some English translations can render “blessed” as “happy”, according to Peter.
“The Hebrew [language] idea of blessedness is more than what we associate with blessing,” Peter said.
When we shape “happiness” in the light of right relationship with God through Jesus, we can see how the pursuit of happiness involved everybody else.
“There is a sense in which it has to do with being happy or being fulfilled or flourishing.
“And yet, when Jesus speaks about ‘blessedness’, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the pure in heart and the merciful – it is very much pointing us to a happiness beyond our sense of self-satisfaction.”
Pointing to a relationship with God where happiness is grasped when we hunger after what God hungers after.
When we shape “happiness” in the light of right relationship with God through Jesus, we can see how the pursuit of happiness involved everybody else.
“If you want happiness that really sticks around, then you have got to have a sense of meaning, value and satisfaction that you have achieved something,” Peter said.
“You don’t pursue happiness as an end in itself, but you pursue what you were created for and what you were made to be,” Peter said.
“There is something about the community that Jesus brings about that shows us the kind of ‘project of happiness’ that is not just about me.”
“I think it comes down to something fairly simple: there is a God-shaped hole in our hearts.
“You don’t pursue happiness as an end in itself, but you pursue what you were created for and what you were made to be.
“You get that right and happiness will follow…
“If lasting happiness comes from fulfilment, value, purpose and meaning, Jesus says you can’t have that isolated from relationship with God and relationship with others.”
Listen to the full interview with Peter Ko in the player above.
Feature image: Photo by CanvaPro