Let It Be

What do you want out of life? Think about it. What do you want out of life? Your answer is likely the one given by most people, happiness. Everyone wants happiness.

However, it is how we define and pursue happiness that makes us different. Your definition of happiness determines the direction of your life. It’s what drives your decisions.

If happiness is defined by pleasure, we live hedonistic lifestyles. If power defines happiness for us, we chase wealth and influence. We may feel a family will make us happy. What about activism? Then we live for causes. Suppose beauty is our thing, hello extreme fitness and Botox. If being the most intelligent person in the room makes us happy, we pursue elite intellectualism. Striving for deep satisfaction and contentment, we may look to relationships and popularity.

I admire the creativity people exhibit in the pursuit of happiness. Many efforts are noble and inspirational. The Olympian who works hard to win the gold medal, the songwriter who creates the lyric that brings joy to millions, or the medical professional who cares tirelessly for the sick. I find the noblest is the parent that goes to work each day to provide for their family. These are all noble pursuits indeed, and in the latter case, the responsible task to undertake.

However, pursuing these with the end goal of lasting happiness is destined for failure. For what we are seeking will not last. Age will take our fitness and beauty. Our families will never be perfect. We will never have all the answers to our questions. There will always be the sick and needy among us, and strife will always be in the world. When pursuit of our defined happiness doesn’t provide the desired outcome, we often become cynical, bitter, and, ironically, unhappy.

What if I told you that we each have the power to change that outcome? This power is within reach of every person on earth. It is the definition of and the source of lasting happiness and peace that will not disappoint.

What is this power? It is a relationship with the ‘unknown god.’

Many people are very religious in all respects. Their objects of worship are seen all over the world, and I have even heard many cries for help to ‘the unknown god.’ Therefore what many worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.*

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by people, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.*

This unknown God does not need anything from you or me - nada, nothing. Yet he provides every breath we take. And he made from one man every nation of people to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. All people are one blood, and we share a common ancestor. The unknown God established the rise and fall of every nation on earth, and for one purpose -That people should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.*

Yet he is not far from each one of us, for “In him we live and move and have our being” (From the Cretan philosopher Epimenides); as even some of our own poets have said, “For we are indeed his offspring.”*

Being then God's offspring, his creation, you ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by art, movies, literature, or the imagination of humans. During the times of ignorance, the time before the promised savior of the world, God overlooked humanity’s false beliefs. Still, now he commands all people everywhere to turn away from unbelief, to place our trust and faith into the hands of the only One who loves us unconditionally, the only way to lasting joy, Jesus the Messiah, the Christ.*

For God so loved the people of the world, he sent his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, all who believe in him shall not perish but receive the gift of eternal life, for God did not send his Son to condemn the world but to save the world through him.*

Those who believe are not condemned but find happiness, peace, love, and joy that those who do not believe will never understand. Those who do not believe stand condemned already, for they do not believe in God’s one and only Son. They are calling the Creator of heaven and earth a liar. They are destined to live increasingly unhappy lives, never finding the joy they seek, constantly climbing but never reaching the summit. Others will enjoy their buildings, labors, and accomplishments when they die, for God does not waste anything. But, forever separated from God, they will live an eternity of unhappiness and frustration. This is the verdict. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The unknown God has made himself known; His name is Jesus Christ. So for all who call on the name of the Lord, they will be saved.*

Oh, may all people find the happiness, peace, love, and joy of God. As the songwriters said, “And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be answer, let it be. For though they may be parted, there is still a chance they will see.”**

Jesus Christ died on the cross, just as the scriptures said he would. Before the cross, he healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, even raised the dead while revealing God’s truth for happiness in this world.

For correctly answering his accuser’s question, “Are you the Son of God?” he was publicly murdered. Jesus answered, “I am. Was it healing the leper or raising the dead that gave me away?”

As he suffered on the cross, he did not look upon his murderers with vengeance or hate. Instead, he looked at them with mercy, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” And three days later, after he rose from the dead, he did not condemn those who had abandoned him, those who had lost their faith. Rather, he told them, “Do not fear. Peace be with you. Here touch the holes in my hands, feel the wound in my side.” He gave them the forgiveness they needed to receive the happiness, peace, love, and joy he wanted for them.

He will do the same for you. God is calling you home. The happiness you seek begins by placing your faith in Jesus Christ, your God. He is known. The Bible says you will be saved if you confess with your lips that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. Confess and believe. It’s time to have life in full the way God intended it for you. God loves you.

He is the answer. Let it be. Let it be.

*The Bible
**Paul McCartney/John Lennon