Today we live in a world that is constantly seeking for happiness. Everyone has a mania about being happy or high and it has become a national hobby with us. It is also a billion dollar business. Everywhere we turn someone has something that will make us happy. If we drink a certain beer, buy a certain car, wear a certain pair of pants, dab ourselves with a certain perfume, or brush with Ultra-Bright we are going to be happy. Sometimes our search for happiness costs us or hurts us badly. Seeking happiness, some turn to heavy drinking and lose their dignity or more, some turn to dope and drugs and lose their life, some seek happiness in a few minutes of fun and games with sex and lose. Yet Satan continues to help the happiness sellers package their fun in brightly colored, eye-appealing packages that make us want them desperately. Satan somehow convinces us that if we just had: a souped up car, a new dress, a good-looking boy or girl friend, lots of money, popularity, a sex life, a good figure, we would be happy. The truth is, Satan has sold us a bunch of garbage. Peter said that those who turned to worldly things for happiness were like dogs turning to his own vomit and pigs wallowing in the mire (II Peter 2:21-22). The things that Satan claims will make you happy just will not do it. Thank God there is a better way to find real happiness.
Isaiah talked of a better way of life in Chapter 40:31. listen to his advice, "But those who look upon the Lord, will renew their strength they will mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not grow faint." Isaiah calls us to the eagle way of life.
Two young men climbing a hill one day found a young eagle and brought him home with them. The little eagle was placed in the chicken house with the rest of the chickens. Try as he could the little eagle just could not become a chicken. He tried enjoying pecking around in the dirt, eating worms and the garbage the farmer threw out. He even tried walking around cackling, chickens never fly. He tried spending all day tail in the air, nose to the ground, eating dirt and getting dirty. One day as he was getting more and more frustrated with his inability to be a chicken, he was startled by a barking do-a. The little eagle flapped his mighty wings to ward off the dog and found to his amazement that he had soared into the pure fresh air above the yard. His wings carried him lip to the highest trees and on into the air, to the highest mountain peaks, he never wanted to be a chicken again.
Are you an eagle or a chicken? Satan's life is one for chickens. Full of dirt, walking, picking up worms and garbage thrown to you. God made you, he is your creator. He knows what will make you happy. He wants you to find real joy and happiness in life, and he made it available to you. What kind of happiness does God offer to you?
In John 3:16 we discover that God loved us enough to send His only son, Jesus, to save us from our sins. God chose you to be happy, to be the one to whom He could give His most prized possession as a gift. That love God has for us ought to really make us happy. In John 8:35-36, Jesus said, "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Happiness is being free of guilt, pain, worries, problems. Jesus wants to set you free of all these. He came to take our burdens away. To be free is to be happy. In John 10:10, Jesus said He had come to give us life and life abundantly. The word "abundantly" means fully packed, stamped down and running over. Imagine a life filled with so much happiness and joy that you just bubble over. Those were the promises God made to you. Why be a chicken when you can be an eagle. Why walk when you can fly. Why eat dirt when you can sail in the pure fresh air of the mountains. Never knock the way of life Jesus has offered to you unless you try it first. You might be surprised what you will feel, when you soar on wings like an eagle.