By Reno Omokri

Only foolish folks say money cannot buy happiness. Happiness depends on happenings. And money can make things happen. In fact, Ecclesiastes 10:19 says “money is the answer for everything”. It is joy that money cannot buy. Joy is a fruit of The Spirit.

You cannot buy the fruit of The Spirit. When Simon attempted to buy it, Peter rebuked him thus “may your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!”-Acts 8:20. “The Fruit of The Spirit is love, JOY, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness”-Galatians 5:22. It is a gift from God that does not depend on happenings thus Isaiah witnessed of God thus “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you”-Isaiah 26:3.

But what practical steps can we take to improve our joy levels as believers in the Gospel of God delivered to us through Yeshu’a (Jesus) the Messiah?

This question is very valid in today’s world which is plagued with epidemic levels of depression.

In fact, the medical journal ‘Clinical Depression’ reports that “People born since 1945 are 10 times more likely to suffer from depression than those born before”.

Asked to identify the causes of depression the journal listed the following;

“a breakdown in the extended family
a dispersal of communities
an increased focus on material wealth
an overwhelming prevalence of news media
and an increase in focus on ‘the self’.
All of which, and more besides, add up to a potent recipe for depression”.

You can visit the site hereclinical-depression.co.uk.
But why has depression become such a scourge in our modern world even where mankind is more prosperous that at any other time in her history?

Omokri

In my opinion, the reason is because after the end of the second World War, the world saw an explosion in the capacity of the media to broadcast via mass media outlets and that became a medium to fuel consumerism and other behaviors that made human beings more aware of their selves and therefore more self focused and then made them compare themselves to others so that there is a constant desire to keep up with our neighbor and society rather than love our neighbor and help society.

Prior to 1945, it used to be that it took a village to raise a child, but because of the advent of the mass media and how it has changed our perceptions of ourselves and how we relate to our neighbors, we moved from trusting our neighbours, to not trusting our neighbor, to the point where we do not even bother knowing our neighbors. In larger cities, it even became a virtue to mind your own business such that neighbors die and rot in their homes or apartment and no one in the neighborhood knows for months until the post man notices that the mail box is too full!

The reason all these are happening is that man has been misled by satan through the media to think that we were created to pursue our own happiness.

In 2 Timothy 3:1-2 we read “mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy”.

Aren’t these Scriptures being fulfilled before our eyes ?

If you want to know how self centered the human race has become then consider that according to the Oxford Dictionary, the most popular word of the year 2013 was ‘selfie’ which was actually recognized as the word of the year.

That is why the constitution of almost all nations give citizens a right to the pursuit of happiness.

Even the law is pushing us to pursue our own happiness.

However, we were actually created to pursue the pleasure of God then our fellow man and only by so doing do we find our own happiness.

Revelations 4:11 reads “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created”.

From the above we are guided to pursue God’s pleasure as our number one priority.

In Philippians 2:4 Paul advises believers thus “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others”.

From the above we are guided to pursue our neighbor’s pleasure as our number two priority.

The most joyful and energetic persons in the world are those who have found God’s purpose for their lives and are using it to please God by serving others.

Why? Because Nehemiah 8:10 teaches us that “the joy of the LORD is your strength”.

Look at the lives of Elizabeth Taylor and Mother Theresa. Elizabeth Taylor was one of the princesses of vanity that Hollywood churns out on a regular basis. But as she grew older and lost her beauty she became less happy and eventually slid into depression.

Mother Theresa devoted her life to caring for others in the service of God. She was altruistic and didn’t much care about her looks. But as she grew older, she increased in influence and in personal happiness and fulfillment.

One of these women was mindful of earthly things and the other was mindful of heavenly things and look at how the end of their life looked like.

No wonder 1 John 2:17 days “thr world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever”.

CS Lewis said “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing”.

Do not allow the media fool you. Apart from God, you have no chance of joy though you may have occasional bursts of happiness which will reduce in quantity and quality as the years go by and your hairs become gray.

However, when you spend your life serving God and humanity your sense of joy and fulfillment increases as your age increases becoming like wine which gets better with age.
Reno Omokri is a pastor and author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God, and the soon coming Why Jesus Wept.

You are invited to follow Reno on Twitter @renoomokri.