Beyond Happy: Discovering True Joy by Wycliffe Bible TranslatorsSample

Created for More

Are you happy?

The world will tell you that there are plenty of paths to happiness: earning a college degree, achieving career success, getting a new car, hitting your goal weight, marrying the perfect person, making a lot of money, buying your dream house … the list of worldly “wins” goes on and on!

You can seemingly create your own happiness by pursuing and achieving these things and more. If you check off enough personal goals, then you’ll be happy. Right?

But if enough boxes aren’t checked (or if other people seem to be checking them off faster), it’s easy to get disappointed and frustrated — not just with yourself but with God. You might feel like He isn’t coming through for you or providing what you want or need to feel good.

Even though you probably don’t believe all of this fully, some inner part of you might reason that by getting exactly what you want, you’ll truly be happy.

But what if God didn’t design you for happiness?

What if He designed you for joy?

Happiness is about the search for “more” in life: more friends, more money, more entertainment, more acknowledgement, more power, etc. But joy is the discovery of an abundant life found in “less” focus on yourself and others — and more on Christ.

Over the next several days, explore what it looks like to live beyond happiness by finding true and lasting joy.

Reflection:

• What was the last thing that made you happy? What was the last thing that brought you joy?
• What things have you looked for “more” of?
• What in your life right now is preventing you from finding true joy?