Luke Scallon
Pastor, Faith Baptist Church of Danville

Published in The Des Moines County News on March 31, 2016.

This past week, I was pushing my kids on the swings to celebrate the great weather outside.  They were laughing and beaming as they went back and forth, and I found myself basking in their pure delight.  This is what life is all about, I thought to myself.

Or is it?  I quickly caught the error of my thinking.  Don’t get me wrong – some of my greatest joys come from blessing my children with moments of happiness.  But if this is what life “is all about,” then life quickly loses its meaning… in moments when the children are fighting, in times when they are too sick to play, and in times when we make them clean up, bringing playtime to an end.

This kind of thinking is nothing new.  For our generation and the next, the pursuit of happiness has become not only our right, but our purpose for living.  With this kind of outlook, every moment in life either contains happiness or emptiness.  This has resulted in devastation and despair for so many people.

People are great, and relationships are important.  I love talking to my wife and spending time with her.  She is my best friend!  But life is about more than this.  I love hugging my children and watching them learn new things!  But life is about more than this.  Friends, family, and things will never be everything.  You never know when they might all be stripped away from you.  But could there be meaning even after such tragedy?

The Bible contains great words of hope and great words of meaning.  Rather than the pursuit of happiness, the Bible has much to say about joy, which endures despite circumstances, despite the ups and downs of life.  At the foundation of such joy is a trusting faith in a God who is good, who never gives up on us.  Romans 15:13 says, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

I will have times of great disappointment in life.  In those times, I can still find joy and meaning, because it comes from a God who places value on me – so much value that He gave His Son Jesus to die on the cross.  He was willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for me, and His love for me endures despite my many failures.  Remembering this, I look forward, even in the most difficult times, to a continuing hope.  I have a friend through it all, and He is the Creator of the universe!  Trusting Him means I have joy, hope, and meaning, even in the most difficult of circumstances, and even when it seems like I have nothing else left.

What is life all about?  It’s about trusting and following an amazing God, and leaning on Him through both pleasure and suffering.