3 THINGS PHILIPPIANS TEACHES ABOUT HAPPINESS by Jacob Tanner for Core Christianity
According to some secularists, happiness consists of success (especially business and financial), popularity, and influence. While those things may contribute to an overall feeling of pleasure, they’re also uncertain, temporal, and fleeting. Success is hard to measure, and the money a person has can evaporate even more quickly than it took to earn. As the Covid pandemic taught us, businesses can turn over amazing profits one moment and then be boarding up their windows the next. Influence only goes so far—no mere mortal can be everything to all people.
So, what gives a person lasting happiness in this uncertain world?
To answer the question, we have Paul’s letter to the Philippians, sometimes called “The Epistle of Joy.” In just four chapters, the apostle uses the word joy, or a variation of it, at least sixteen times. Though the world tries to define happiness through the lens of worldly pleasures and achievements, Philippians establishes a different definition of happiness and how to attain it: Happiness is true contentment in Jesus, thankfulness to God for the gospel, and enjoyment of one’s salvation, which can only be experienced in a relationship with Jesus. The Protestant Reformer John Calvin may have had Philippians in mind when he famously said, “Joy is a quiet gladness of heart as one contemplates the goodness of God’s saving grace in Christ Jesus.”
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Consider what Philippians teaches about lasting happiness:
1. Happiness is contentment in Jesus as the greatest treasure.
The one who possesses a treasure will, indeed, experience joy for a time. But the problem with earthly treasures is that they’re temporal. Moth and rust can corrupt treasures on this earth, thieves can break in and steal, and fires can destroy (Matt. 6:19-20). A treasure can only truly satisfy if it’s eternal, everlasting, and in no danger of being lost.
Jesus alone is this eternal, everlasting, and incorruptible treasure. In Philippians 3:7-8, Paul writes to the Philippians, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” He was willing to lose everything else if only he had Jesus. Why? Because he knew that Jesus was the Savior of his soul, the provider of all good things, and the source of all hope and confidence for the future.
Paul wrote this letter of joy from within a dark, dank prison cell (Phil. 1:7-8, 29-30). He found contentment despite life’s circumstances; in Jesus, he found strength to face the challenges of the day. Paul teaches us that God can turn sorrow into joy, even if the circumstances do not change (Jer. 31:13). He does this through reminding us of the great treasure that we possess in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
