A few years ago, Will Smith starred in a movie "The Pursuit of Happyness". It was a story based on the real life experiences of Chris Gardner, a true rags to riches story. Chris loses everything in his life due to some poor decisions he had made. He invested everything he had in a machine called a bone density scanner; a machine that was twice as expensive as an x-ray machine with practically the same resolution. Then his wife leaves him and his young son. Chris finds himself homeless on the streets of San Francisco with his young son, with no money or job. Hollywood would have us believe that Chris did this all on his own, but in Gardner credits his tenacity and success to his "spiritual genetics" handed down to him by his mother, Bettye Jean Triplett. Through his patience and faith, he becomes a success and inspiration for others.
Don't many of us, like Chris Gardner, find ourselves spiritually homeless due to our past poor decisions? When we need an inspiring story of how to recieve "spiritual happyness" we must as in all things look to the word of God, not stories of men, to find the path we need. Let us now look at what examples God gives us of patience and faith in Him and His promises to us.
When we think of happiness, we don't often associate happiness with patience. But in life, we find the need for patience in the pursuit of happiness. The aforementioned story is an example of patience. We have many examples in scripture of men who were patient. Most would point to Job as a man of patience, and of this I would agree. But I find a better example for us today in the Apostle Paul. We see in the following passage some of the things that Paul endured:
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
(2 Corinthians 11:24-28 ESV)
After enduring all of this during his life, Paul still writes this to the church in Rome:
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
(Romans 8:25 ESV)
But even though he endured all of this, Paul was patient unto the end. He never gave up. Job was known as a man of patience and perseverance, but so was Paul. As he sees his life coming to an end, Paul writes to Timothy:
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
(2 Timothy 4:6-8 ESV)
Let us also strive to be patient like Paul, and in so doing we will achieve true happiness. In the word of the Apostle Peter:
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
(1 Peter 1:8 ESV)
And in conclusion. remember the words of the psalmist:
Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
(Psalms 27:14 ESV)
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