Divine Desire #5
There is something in the heart of every human being that drives them on an unceasing search for this kind of never-ending happiness. Pascal once remarked that
All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves. And yet, after such a great number of years, no one without faith has reached the point to which all continually look. All complain, princes and subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak, learned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all times, all ages, and all conditions. A trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly convince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts. But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there is not some slight difference; and hence we expect that our hope will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present never satisfies us, experience dupes us and, from misfortune to misfortune, leads us to death, their eternal crown.
No one “without faith” has ever found the happiness sought by humanity and so we are on every occasion, “deceived as before”. God never intended death to be the eternal crown for His creation. His goal is a love that elects us, secures us and enthrones us with Him forever.
No one “” has ever found the happiness sought by humanity and so we are on every occasion, “”. God never intended death to be the eternal crown for His creation. His goal is a love that elects us, secures us and enthrones us with Him forever.
No one “” has ever found the happiness sought by humanity and so we are on every occasion, “”. God never intended death to be the eternal crown for His creation. His goal is a love that elects us, secures us and enthrones us with Him forever.
The problem isn’t humanity’s drive for happiness but the misguided direction of misplaced passions that create the self-imposed delusion of possible happiness apart from God. Searching for happiness isn’t wrong but we’re looking for it in all the wrong places and in the wrong time. Pascal is right to say that “the present never satisfies us”. And it isn’t that our passion is so strong that nothing can fulfill it. C.S. Lewis claimed that our passion was, in fact, too weak. He wrote that, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” (The Weight of Glory)
Our problem isn’t that our passion is too great. Our desire for happiness isn’t great enough to propel us beyond what can only momentarily satisfy us and eternally disappoint us. We are temporally satisfied with human love that eventually disappoints us when God wants us to experience infinite love.