The world offers a lot, but delivers little. “The pursuit of happiness” is an illusory chase. Few get what they would consider their fair share of pleasure, wealth, or even acceptance here. Illness, loss of friendships, personal disaster, and bereavement happen when least expected. Disappointment turns to frustration, and grief, even despair, may follow. But Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted (Luke 4:18).

He does this in a number of ways:

1. Christ shows us that sin, precisely where many are seeking happiness, is actually a slave master, and leads to death (Romans 7:14; 6:16, 21). To quit sinning, our nature needs to be fun damentally changed (John 3:7).
2. He gives real joy in salvation (Psalm 51:12), which is the forgiveness of sin, and new birth by repentance.
3. Christ promises happiness, not for pursuing it, but by serving others (Mark 9:41).
4. He teaches us that real fulfillment comes not with right circumstances, but right relation ships. Being in Christ brings “joy in the Holy Ghost” (Romans 14:17). He places us in the body of believers, His church (1 Corinthians 12:18), which ministers to our spiritual, emotional, and material needs.

If you are brokenhearted, what does this mean for you?

1. That you should look to Christ in His church, rather than to the world for healing. Find that body of people that believes and lives the Bible faithfully.
2. That issues of sin must be dealt with first. The true Christians you find in the church of Jesus Christ are true friends, and they will help you sort through those issues of sin.
3. That happiness can be found in meeting God’s terms for forgiveness, and in serving Christ and others.

Christ came, “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3)

-by Dallas Witmer