liberty and pursuit of happiness

The “unalienable rights” of all human beings- life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.

We often hear the phrase “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. This great phrase is in the United States Declaration of Independence. These are declared as “unalienable rights” of human beings by their creator. It also says governments are created to protect these rights for people. Thomas Jefferson, who was a Christian believed in the God of the Bible, drafted the United States Declaration of Independence. It was later edited by a committee of five people that included Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston. The phrase “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” which are the God-given rights for all people are in the second paragraph of the first article.
Read what is stated there, “ In CONGRESS, July 4, 1176, the Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America“. It says, “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, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
We know the pilgrims who came to the United States found these unalienable rights in the Bible – the Word of God. Bible talks about these three rights – life, liberty, and happiness.
If these are the “unalienable rights” of men, where do we find the fulfillment of these rights? Of course, these are the dreams and core values of each American. I know these are the dreams and values of all people everywhere because these are divine dreams and values.
Can I say boldly this truth that these rights you very dearly cherish and want to keep, you will find only in God because it is God who revealed this truth to us in the pages of the Bible? It is God who revealed these rights to Thomas Jefferson and the architects of United States Constitution. The only source that will grant you these “unalienable rights” is God and the Bible.

1. The source of full and abundant life is God.

Bible says in Genesis 2:7, “Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” This is the beginning of the history of man. God formed man of dust from the ground and He breathed life into Adam’s nostrils. This is how man became a living being. Thus the Bible claims the source of life is God Himself. No one else, period! 1 Samuel 2:6 says, “The LORD kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.” 1 Timothy 6:13 says, “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things,…”
I heard people saying, I want to live a full life! Don’t you want to have a full life in its fullest sense? Yes, you do. Then come to the true source of life- God. Only He can give you full and abundant life. How can you come to God? Because God is Spirit (John 4:24) and no one has ever seen God. There is a way to see God and Bible reveal this truth.
John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who himself is God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” In other words, Bible says no- one has ever seen God but Jesus Christ, His Son who was in the closest relationship with the Father has revealed God to us. you Dear friend, now we can see God in Christ Jesus.
Jesus Himself said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father (God).” John 14:9. Jesus also said in John 10:10,“ I and the Father (God) are one.” If you want to see God, come and take a look at Jesus Christ! John 10:30. Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief cometh not but to steal and to kill and to destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” Christ came to this world to give you full and abundant life. Bible says in John 1:4, “In Him (Jesus Christ) was life, and the life was the Light of men.” Jesus also said in John 6:48, “I am the bread of life”. This means he is the source of life. John 6:58, Jesus said to the Jews that their fathers ate ‘manna, the bread dropped down from heaven, and still died. In contrast, Jesus said He is the bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Jesus Christ is the source of full, abundant and eternal life. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me.” In other words, you and I cannot enter into God’s presence without first going through Jesus Christ.
Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:45, “So also it is written, “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING SOUL ” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” In this passage, the first man created by God, Adam, is compared to the last Adam, Jesus Christ. Adam received life from God. However, due to the original sin of Adam, he lost his fellowship and friendship (Spiritual life) with God immediately and the final outcome was physical death. In contrast, Jesus Christ, the last Adam or the second representative or new headship of human beings became a life-giving spirit. He restores the fellowship and friendship with God (Spiritual life) and turns the physical death into life eternal.
Jesus said in John 10:28, “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” This is the assurance of your eternal life. Christ gives full, abundant and eternal life. Once you come to Him trusting in Him, no one will be able to snatch you out of His hand. He has the strong eternal grip on you. He will give full, abundant and eternal life.
John 5:39-40, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that bear witness about me,  yet you refuse to come to me that you may have the life.” You see, people look into the Scripture because they think it provides a way for abundant life and everlasting eternal life. But do you know all the Scripture, like Jesus said above, points to Christ for abundant life and eternal life? But the problem is yet people refuse to come to Him for the full life.
In other words, unwillingness to come to Christ and accept Him as your savior is the only reason why you don’t have the full, abundant and eternal life.
The life in its fullest sense in the present time and life eternal after your death finds its true and only source in God and His Son, Jesus Christ, whom God sent for your sake.

2. The true liberty is found only in God

Isaiah 61:1;2(a), “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
And freedom to prisoners;
To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD”.
See, it is the Spirit of the Lord God who proclaims liberty to captives, those who are under the bondage of addictions, sins and those who are under the bondage of Satan. The LORD not only gives liberty to those who are under the bondage of different sorts, but also He ministers to the brokenhearted and bring good news to the afflicted and sad. God gives freedom to prisoners because this is the favorable year of the LORD. The above passage was a messianic prophecy. This was a prophecy that was fulfilled in Christ in His first coming to this earth. Luke 4:21-22 says, “Jesus read this section in the synagogue and announced, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.”
Listen, it’s the Devil who makes you captive and he wants to keep you in bondage without true liberty and freedom. Bible says in 11 Timothy 2:24-26, “if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” I will outline the above verse below.

• God can grant people repentance
• How? Leading them to the knowledge of the truth
• What is the result? They may come to their senses by hearing the truth of the Bible and escape from the snare of the devil
• Why the deliverance needed? They have been held captive by him (devil) to do his will and as long as they remain as devil’s captive, they are in the kingdom of darkness and do not know the truth and light.
• Now you may think you are not in any bondage. But the fact of the matter is this- you are under his bondage until you come to Jesus to get freedom from different types of bondage.
The passages give us the truth who hold people captive do his will – the answer is Devil. Why he does that? Devil wants them to do his will.
But who gives freedom from the snare of the devil? God. How God gives freedom from the captivity of devil? By leading people to know the truth. By showing them the truth, God grants them repentance and a change of heart. Marvellous!
Jesus said in John 8:32, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” What or who is the truth? Jesus said on another occasion “He is the way, truth, and life.” John 14:6.

When God sent Jesus Christ to this world, do you know He was on a rescue mission? His rescue mission was to attack devil and deliver you from his bondage to Christ’s freedom. Bible says in Colossians 1:13-14, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” The domain of darkness is the domain of devil and his demons. Not only Christ can rescue you from devil’s kingdom and bondage and but He will transfer you immediately to the kingdom of God’s beloved son, Jesus Christ. This is the kingdom of true life, liberty, and freedom.

3. The true happiness is found only in a relationship with God.

Psalm 16:11 “You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand, there are pleasures forever.” (NASB translation)
“You will show me the way of life. Being with You is to be full of joy. In Your right hand, there is happiness forever.” (NLV translation)
Stop and think the source of pleasures and happiness from the above passage. You are pursuing happiness and pleasures for a long time, aren’t you? You know for yourself that you still didn’t find the true source of happiness after trying to find happiness in many places. Don’t you agree?
You may think that fun and friendship give you happiness. You go out with your friends and have fun and then come back home and discover you don’t have real happiness, don’t you? You may also think money and richness can give you happiness. Then why the celebrities who have money, beauty and a big name and fame easily get into addiction to drugs and immoral lifestyles? Many of them end up their lives in suicide. Because none of the above gives people the true happiness and pleasure. In order to suppress their pain and frustration, they check out drugs and immoral lifestyles. And typically drugs and immoral lifestyles lead one to destruction. Many end up in suicide.

Passing pleasures vs lasting pleasures

Bible says there are passing pleasures in sin and many attracted with the passing, temporary pleasure that sin offers. But Bible says Moses chose to go with God and God’s people than following the passing fleeting pleasures than sin offers. Hebrews 11:24. Though sin may give you temporary or short-term pleasures eventually it will backfire on you. Proverbs 13:6 says sin leads to destruction and wickedness overthrow the life of a sinner.

Billion dollar question and its answer

You see, the pursuit of happiness is one of the ‘unalienable rights’ of all people. However, the billion dollar question is where will you find the real and true happiness? We have a lot of fake happiness that doesn’t give you real, lasting happiness, don’t we? I challenge you with this truth. Pursuing God will grant you real happiness and pleasure and you will not find such a joy and happiness in no another place.
You see the above passage I quoted says the fullness of joy is in God’s presence. At God’s right hand is pleasure forever. Being with God is full of joy. At God’s right hand is happiness forever. Read Psalm 16:11. Chew what is said there. Let it do a deep work in your soul and spirit.
You see, thus far, most probably, you were pursuing happiness in wrong places, weren’t you? The true happiness is found only in your relationship with God. Bible says in Psalm 68:3, “But the godly are happy; they rejoice before God and are overcome with joy.” Bible says in Proverbs 16:20, “and happy is he who trusts in the Lord.”

Now the question is how can you relate to God to appropriate the real and true happiness. Bible says you can relate to God in and through Jesus Christ, the only savior of the world. How do we know this? Bible declares this in 1 Timothy 2:4-6. “He (God) wants all people to be saved from the punishment of sin. He wants them to come to know the truth. There is one God. There is one Man standing between God and men. That Man is Christ Jesus. He gave His life for all men so they could go free and not be held by the power of sin. God made this known to the world at the right time.”
This is the truth-
• There is one God
• There is one Man standing between God and men
• This Man is Christ Jesus
• Christ opened this way to God by giving His life as a ransom for all men so they could go free and enjoy God

Christ in His incarnation was fully Man and fully God and this is how he gave His life as a ransom for you and me. Christ’s life didn’t begin in Bethelem. Bible says He was with the God in the very beginning. John 1:1.
Read what Jesus said in John “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.”
God loves you and Christ loves you and this divine love is unconditional and there are no strings attached to His love. You can abide or live in the full acceptance and love of God and Christ. See, God loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son for your sins, right? That is a perfect love. Christ loved you so much that He didn’t run away from the cross. He could have, but He didn’t. When they falsely accused Him and brutally wounded him and finally put him on the cross, He was silent. He didn’t say a word back to them. Because Jesus knew He was fulfilling the eternal covenant and agreement He had made with the Father God to come to this earth and die for your sins. This much God and Christ loved you. Bible says in Romans 8:32, “God did not keep His own Son for Himself but gave Him for us all. Then with His Son, will He not give us all things? This makes you content. The God who gave His own son for you, will He not give you all things you need? Yes, He will! Period!

See, your joy and happiness will be made full and complete when you understand God loves you unconditionally, no matter what. He accepts you and grants you the real and true life, liberty and happiness when you come to God in and through the only savior of the world – Christ Jesus. This is the beginning point of your joy and happiness. No matter what happens in this world or to you personally, you will be joyful, contented and happy in the love of God. When you come to God, trusting and believing in Christ as your savior, Bible says He will grant you the Holy Spirit in you who will guide you and help you all through your life. See, now you have only one mechanism called ‘flesh’. But you will have another supernatural helper inside you who will help you each day of your life until you reach heaven one day. His name is Holy Spirit whom God gives you when you accept Christ as your savior. The Holy Spirit grants you joy, happiness, love, patience, perseverance, self-control etc. You will be equipped with almighty God’s power to lead a joyful, contented and happy life of pursuing God all through your life.  No other pursuit of happiness is compared to this journey and pursuit of knowing God and living for God.

Seeking and pursuing God and His agenda will motivate and challenge you. In it is the real and true happiness.  No other pursuit of happiness is even comparable to this journey and pursuit of knowing God and living for God. That pursuit of knowing God personally and connecting with His agenda is possible by inviting Jesus Christ into your life and growing in the knowledge of the Bible.

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