The Pursuit of Holiness
The United States Declaration of Independence states, “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness…”
What does it mean that the pursuit of happiness is an unalienable right? Do you think the founders of the United States had the same understanding of the pursuit of happiness as most people do today?
If you stopped a random person on the street and asked them what the pursuit of happiness means, what do you think they would say? I suspect they might say something like, “it means I can do whatever I want as long as nobody else gets hurt in my pursuit of happiness.” But who defines ‘hurt’ and who decides whether or not something is hurtful?
For example, there’s a fairly common statement that “watching pornography doesn’t actually hurt anyone.” Is that true? Maybe in the narrowest sense, it is. But what about the actors who produce the images? Some of them are doing it under the threat of force without their consent. Even if it is consensual, it’s still degrading and leads to women being treated as objects of pleasure rather than unique individuals of immeasurable value. And what about the relationships that are damaged by the abuse that often flows out of the use of pornography?
What about the battered wives and girlfriends who are subjected to violence as a result of men’s perversion? Or what about the fathers who are cut off from their children because their mom’s porn addiction led her into an adulterous or same-sex relationship? Or what about the children who become victims, either of sexual abuse or simply abandonment?
Certainly, our founding fathers didn’t see this as the pursuit of happiness. In fact, later, after the writing of the US Constitution, John Adams wrote, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
All of us want to be happy, I think that’s normal. A recent study from Harvard University on happiness asked this question; “why are 18- to 25-year-olds so miserable?” The researchers pointed to two factors. First, on average, high use of social media has negative effects on well-being and mental health. Second, (and now I am quoting directly), “…study after study, ours, and others, have indicated that family life and participation in religious communities contribute across these aspects of flourishing. And participation in both of those are down substantially,” (end of quote).
Well, isn’t that interesting? We could sum up their research by saying that faith in God and family connections are foundational to a meaningful and happy life. That sounds a lot like the recipe the Bible gives us for personal fulfillment or happiness. We humans were designed for relationship: a relationship with God and relationships with each other.
We don’t have a biblical command to pursue happiness, but we do have numerous biblical commands to pursue holiness. I believe that holiness and happiness are closely related. And that’s what we want to explore in our study today, “The Pursuit of Holiness.” Our text is Second Corinthians 6:11 to 7:1. Listen carefully as I read the text.
When you think of pursuit, what comes to your mind? A car chase involving law enforcement, a hunt for...
