And the Pursuit of Happiness

Yesterday I blogged about the poor choices we make as we pursue what we want, resulting in consequences we don't want. I used Tiger Woods as an example. Tiger's story is so sad because here was a man who was admired by the world for having it all and the world was sure that that meant he had it all together. Now that it has all slipped and things are a mess, the world can't figure it out and piles on the poor guy. I wish I knew him and could go talk to him and share with him what Christ can bring to a life. The world's formula again reveals itself as bankrupt. Satan has great offers, but his bag of "goodies" is empty. Check out this quote from an editorial on Golf.com

the Tiger affair has changed our concept of happiness itself, recalling every tired but true aphorism along the "Money can't buy happiness" spectrum, starting with, "He who gets everything he wants will soon want nothing he has." Tiger had millions in the bank, a Swedish-bikini-team wife, a couple of cute kids (2-year-old Sam, 10-month-old Charlie), the adulation of millions, a labradoodle (Yogi) and a border collie (Taz), vacation homes, a yacht — and still it was not enough. He was, it seems, a lost, lonely man, searching for happiness in all the wrong places. -Golf.com article

Now an observation from the prophet Jeremiah.

"The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds. "As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the midst of his days it will forsake him, And in the end he will be a fool." (Jeremiah 17:9-11)

The ultimate tragedy for Woods will be if his wife does leave him and he later returns to golf, girls, and glory as a way to again pursue happiness. It's still a hollow pursuit.