The Way to Happiness by Thomas
Guthrie Happy is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are
covered. Happy is the man whose sin the
Lord does not count against him. Psalm 32 1-2 Our happiness depends,
in a very small degree, upon what is external to us. The springs
of happiness lie deep within. Yet how common is it to think
otherwise? Hence, the keen pursuit of pleasure,
lover's sighs, war's fierce ambition, the student's patient labor as
he feeds his midnight lamp with the oil of life, the panting
race for fleeting riches, the desperate struggles some make
to keep themselves from sinking into poverty, and the toil and
trouble others endure. and to say nothing of the sins
which these may alike commit simply, to rise in the world,
as it is called, to keep a better table, to wear a better dress,
to live in a better house than satisfied their humble but happier
parents. These paths, crowded and beaten
down, though they are by the feet of thousands who are treading
on each other's heels, never yet conducted any man to happiness. Never, it lies in another direction. Whatever his condition is, poor
or rich, pining on a sick bed, or with health glowing on his
cheek, to be married tomorrow or to be hanged tomorrow, blessed
or as we would say, happy, is he whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sin is covered. The way to happiness does not
lie in attempting to bring our circumstances up to our desires,
but our desires down to our circumstances. To indulge in unsanctified and
insatiable ambition, to attempt to bring our circumstances up
to our desires, is an attempt to fill a sieve with water. The
passions that in such a case seek gratification are like that
wretched drunkard's thirst. They burn the fiercer for indulgence
and crave for more the more they get. It is often difficult, I
grant, to bring our desires down to our circumstances. On the
other hand, he does not attempt a difficult thing, but an impossible
thing who attempts to bring his circumstances up to the height
of his ambition. As the old adage says, nature
is content with little. Grace is content with less. Lust
is content with nothing. May ours be the happiness of
one who is content with less than little, pleased with whatever
pleases his Father, anxious for nothing, thankful for anything,
prayerful in everything, and can say with Paul, I have learned
to be content, whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need,
and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret
of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or
hungry, whether living in plenty or in poverty. Philippians chapter
4, verses 11 to 12.