6.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• The world’s “mathematics of happiness” looks like this:
  - Life – Problems = Happiness
• The Bible’s “mathematics of happiness” looks like this:
  - Life – Sin = Happiness
• The world’s “mathematics of happiness” looks like this:
  - Desires + Getting what we desire = Happiness
• The Bible’s “mathematics of happiness” looks like this:
  - Good desires = Happiness
• Only the Bible’s “mathematics of happiness” can give us true happiness and contentment.

6.2 Romans 7:18–19, 24–25a (NIV)←⤒🔗

^18. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

^19. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing

…

^24. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

^25a. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

© NET Bible

6.3 James 4:1-4 (NIV)←⤒🔗

^1. What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?

^2. You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.

^3. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

^4. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

© NET Bible

6.4 Happiness?←⤒🔗

All people want happiness. But how can we get happiness? What must we add to our lives, and what must we subtract (take away) from our lives, to be happy?

The world gives us one “mathematics of happiness,” and the Bible gives us another “mathematics” of happiness. Let us look at the difference.

6.5 The world’s view of happiness (1)←⤒🔗

This is the world’s mathematics of happiness:

• Life – Problems = Happiness
• (Life minus Problems equals Happiness)

The people of this world think that happiness will come when we get rid of our problems: problems such as poverty, sickness, an unhappy marriage, or a difficult job. Many church leaders even promise that they can take people’s problems away! And many people go to church only because they want God to solve their problems.

But the Bible tells us the truth about our problems…

6.6 The biblical view of happiness (1)←⤒🔗

The Bible tells us that our biggest problem is not outside us. It is inside us. It is our sin.

Here is the Bible’s mathematics of happiness:

• Life – Sin = Happiness
• (Life minus Sin equals Happiness)

In the verses that we read from Romans 7, Paul is writing about his own sin. Then he calls out, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?” (verse 24).

The word “wretched” means hopeless.  Paul knows that, because of his sin, he was in a hopeless situation. Why? Because God hates sin. He punishes sin with death and hell.

Even if you are a Christian, you still sin every day. The more the Holy Spirit works in you, the more you will see your own sin. You will see that you are a wretched sinner, just like Paul.

But there is hope! In verse 24 Paul asks the question: Who can rescue me from my sin? In verse 25 he gives this answer: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

We cannot save ourselves from our sin. But God has saved us. By the blood of Jesus Christ, God has washed us clean from our sins. If you trust in Christ, God forgives all your sin. He adopts you as his child. He welcomes you into his presence. This is where true happiness begins.

Maybe you already know these things, but you still don’t feel much happiness. Then pray that God will give you a better understanding of: (1) How great your own sin is; and (2) How great the love of God is by which he has saved you. The more you understand these two things, the more your happiness will grow!

6.7 The world’s view of happiness (2)←⤒🔗

There is another lie that the world believes about happiness. That is:

• Desires + Getting what we desire = Happiness
• (Desires plus Getting what we desire equals Happiness)

In today’s world we see advertisements everywhere: advertisements for cars, clothes, houses, cell phones, and thousands of other things. If we are not careful, we will start to believe that these things can make us happy. We will begin to feel a great desire for these things.

But the truth is that things will never make us happy. Ecclesiastes 5:10 tells us, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income” (NIV). If you desire money and things, you will always look for more money and more things. You will never be content. You will never be truly happy.

6.8 The biblical view of happiness (2)←⤒🔗

This is what the Bible says about desires and happiness:

• Good Desires = Happiness
• (Good Desires equals Happiness)

The Bible tells us to be careful about what is going on in our hearts (Proverbs 4:23). We need to make sure that our desires are good desires. Only good desires can lead to true happiness.

A desire is good when it:
comes from a good motive;
does not cause us to sin; and
fits in with our circumstances.
Let us look more carefully at each of these points.

1. A good desire comes from a good motive.←↰⤒🔗

A good motive is a motive that is based on love for God and love for other people.

For example, Richard desires to get a better job. His reason (motive) is that he loves his family and wants to take better care of them. His desire for a better job is good, because his motive is good.

Brian also desires a better job, because he wants to drive a fancy car! His desire for a better job is not a good desire, because his motive is selfish.

In our second passage, James warns us against selfish motives:

You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? James 4:2b-4a

2. A good desire does not cause us to sin.←↰⤒🔗

In our second passage, James is speaking to Christians who are fighting with each other. In verse 1 he asks them, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires…?”

If your desires cause you to fight with other people, they are not good desires. If your desires cause you to lie, steal, gamble, or commit other sins, they are not good desires. They will not bring you happiness. They are only making you an “enemy of God” (James 4:4).

3. A good desire fits in with our circumstances.←↰⤒🔗

Do you have a small salary and a small yard? Then do not desire a big house. Are you the mother of small children? Then do not desire a quiet home where the floors are always clean!

Remember that your circumstances come from God, and that God has a good plan for your life. Do not desire things that are clearly outside of his plan for your life. Rather “be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you and I will never abandon you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

So, which mathematics of happiness will you follow? The mathematics of the world, or the mathematics of the Bible?