why are so many
australians sad?

July, 2005

what makes us happy...

"I just want to be happy..." "As long as you're happy!" "Surely I'm not expected to stay in something that makes me unhappy..." are commonly heard statements which show the premium that people today place on "happiness."

What is happiness? Perhaps we might define happiness as a sense of things being right. Your football team wins. You feel happy because it's right that they win. Something good happens for you. You feel happy because you feel it's right that good things happen for you. So when things happen 'right' these right happenings makes us feel "happy."

Conversely, when things seem to go wrong, we feel sad. For example, when Geelong loses a football game, I feel sad (and rightfully so). For some people this feeling is almost uncontrollable and the only way they can regain a sense of control is through prescribed medication. I certainly don't want to appear to be belittling people who have gained this rightful sense of normality this way.

But there does appear to be a growing sense of sadness for many in our nation which may not need prescribed medication to remedy. It appears that perhaps a growing number of people are turning to unprescribed pharmaceuticals to attempt to remedy their sadness even if only for a short period of escape. Despite the inability of this temporary measure to address the root causes of sadness many people persist in vain to abuse illicit drugs.

Recently a visiting preacher in New Zealand was prefaced by the testimony of a young person who shared how they had come out of a life of glue-sniffing and into a liberating relationship with Christ. The preacher asked his host what the young person meant by "glue-sniffing". The host explained that glue-sniffing was the poor man's drug- since it gave a similar high to the more expensive street drugs. He explained that the glue was put into a plastic bag, the user would exhale deeply then put their head into the plastic bag and inhale deeply for about 20 seconds. The preacher was shocked! "What kind of moron would stick their head in a plastic bag like that!?" he exclaimed. The host said, "You wouldn't be so judgmental if you knew the kind of homes these kids came from. And besides, when the adult generation with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of alcohol in the other says to these kids get your heads out of those plastic bags it begs the question as to who really has their head in a plastic bag!" The preacher got the point. It doesn't matter what someone's "plastic bag" looks like, all are merely temporary measures to escape sadness.

Sadness comes from feeling that
things aren't "right".

So what's not right that might be causing such widespread sadness? After all, we're experiencing economic growth and national prosperity. Unemployment is almost at record lows. Retailers are posting their highest ever sales. Executives are being paid more than ever. We have some of the best infrastructure of any nation in the world. Our governments are stable and enjoy a high degree of scrutiny and accountability. We have a free press. We have world-class health system. We have freedom of religion. We have a high rate of home ownership. Surely these material indicators are occasions for great happiness? But still, something is missing for many people.

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I've often heard Christians feed their sadness by rejecting the possibility of happiness by "exchanging" it for joy. "Happiness comes and goes, but joy abides" they would say. The problem with this thinking is that it makes happiness and joy an either/or equation, when in fact they can be complementary to each other. That is, let's not feel guilty for wanting to be happy and at the same time realise that joy, while it certainly does abide in the believer, will have different levels of expression in our lives often related to our levels of happiness.

When you eat the labor of your hands,
You shall be happy, and it shall be well with you.
Psalm 128:2

The Biblical word rendered "happy" is sometimes translated "blessed". The original Hebrew word is esher. Interestingly it carries the meaning of - straight, right, proper, and forward (Strong's Dictionary, word #833). The New Testament uses the word "blessed" which carries the same meaning. Therefore genuine happiness comes when things are (or are done) right, properly, and progressively (not necessarily all at once).

On my way to work today I heard on our local radio station that only 5% of Australian millionaires feel "happy". Interestingly, about the same number felt that they were "well off". This merely highlights what we already know- that money does not necessarily bring happiness.

G. K. Chesterton was once heard to remark after walking past an obviously very wealthy man, "There but for the grace of God go I!" Chesterton recognised that wealth was no measure or guarantee of happiness and may in fact make happiness even more elusive.

what jesus taught about obtaining happiness

For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Matt. 16:26

Apart from stating emphatically that materialism would never fulfil the soul's deepest longing, Jesus Christ gave twelve principles for finding happiness. The teaching of Jesus regarding happiness stands in direct contrast to what is generally considered the means of happiness. Consider what He taught-

The very things that Christ taught about finding true happiness are perhaps the things that our world scorns the most! Even Christians who succumb to the thinking of the world about the pursuit of happiness can miss out on the very happiness Christ promised! Essentially Jesus said, Live right. Stand up for what's right. Then you'll experience the right. No wonder we're surrounded by a society that is increasingly becoming more miserable. When the morally "right" is ignored, abandoned, or scorned, it is impossible to find happiness. That's one of the reasons why compassionate Christians must be engaged in defending the morally right within our society and perhaps expect that many in society will repay us the way Christ told us to expect.

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.
Helen Keller

Happiness doesn't come in a bottle or a pill. Neither does it come from being in the arms of another. Christ radically claimed that genuine happiness comes from attending to our most basic spiritual need. The solution to our society's growing unhappiness even in the midst of our growing material prosperity is not found in a new toy, thrill, fling, or thing.

Christians, previously struggling to convince our gluttonously engorged society who have nearly every possible trapping of materialistic gratification at their finger tips, of their need for Christ, are now presented with a marvelous opportunity to do so...

Can we show our society that we are truly unplugged from the Matrix of Deified Materialism, and live authentically happy (right) lives? Can we show our world desperately craving happiness that it can only be found by surrendering to Christ, living unashamedly for Him, rejecting all other false messiahs, and being prepared to make Him and His ways known to a world that will "revile" and "persecute" us for doing so?

This formula for happiness sounds ridiculous to the carnal mind. But it works. Christ demonstrated it. And the heroes of the faith through to the present who have sacrificed the world's formula for happiness have also experienced genuine happiness.

So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rom. 15:13 (NLT)

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Andrew Corbett, July 2005

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