Happiness – “a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment.” Happiness is something that everyone in the world is pursuing and for most people happiness is never found because they are seeking happiness by chasing all the wrong things. Many seek happiness by chasing money, materialism, fame, popularity, and pleasure, but it’s all the wrong stuff. The pursuit of happiness is a deception that even takes many believers in Christ captive because its deception has infiltrated and influenced the church in our culture. This consumer driven ideology that Christianity is all about happiness has somehow been assimilated into most church’s ideology and much effort is spent by many believers on making themselves happy as Christians. What is worse, churches use the language of worship to justify their affection for this false god. This is seen in how they talk about the music, the sermons, the services, the programs, and even the people of the church in terms of how they make them happy. They talk of enjoyment as a spiritual thing. They say things like, “I really enjoyed your sermon pastor”; or “I really enjoyed the music.” Many of these believers use the terms, want” and “like” to describe that which is good from that which isn’t. They say, “I want a church that has…”; “I like a pastor that does…”; or “I want…I like…”. These believers almost never consider what Jesus wants them to do, they only consider what they enjoy and what makes them the happiest. And the bottom line is that most believers are going to the church that makes them the happiest. Many believers who claim to have given themselves to Jesus spend most of their time “doing what they what they want in a pursuit for happiness.” But the fundamental error with this kind of thinking and behavior is that happiness is never found by direct pursuit. As followers of Christ, believers are to be in the pursuit of holiness in order to glorify God by becoming what He means for them to be and happiness will follow. Happiness is a by-product of holiness. And there is no true happiness apart from holiness. Holiness brings happiness but happiness doesn’t bring holiness. Believers are to focus on God and God alone, and seek after holiness because true happiness comes from a holy God. It has well been said, “Seek for happiness (over holiness), and you will get neither. Seek for holiness (over happiness) and you will get both. (I. Peter 1:15-16), “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.”