Happiness is not in having but not having.

Slow the title above down. You may not agree with it and if you don’t then you are not alone. But your pursuit of happiness may not in the end bring you the happiness that you thought it would.

Jesus is about to bring his famous sermon about the kingdom but first he starts out with a list.

“He said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5 v 3)

The Message is going to help us: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.”

It helps us because we realise that this list is not something to be achieved but what actually is. Preachers would often preach that we should be poor in spirit to be part of the kingdom. But not so much now since Dallas Willard’s Divine Conspiracy, which enables us to see the list as descriptive not prescriptive. The list has categories that are opposite to what we would deem happy.

The world teaches us that happiness is achieved with what you have gained or earned. Jesus teaches us that happiness is found in Him. Those that enter the kingdom are people who realise that all that they chased after would never have satisfied anyway.

So, if today your life is unfulfilled and maybe empty of what the world says you should have then step into this kingdom again, His domain and rule for your life is yours because there is room for Him.

If you want to keep the list descriptive then there will be times when you have to physically sit with the poor in spirit to embrace their loss and become one with them, especially if you are stepping into greatness in areas of your life. Doing so is not for their benefit but yours for they are citizens of the kingdom and are richer than you. They remind you that happiness is not in having but not having.