$120 million cannot buy happiness

Tim Cook will become $120 million richer today when he receives 560,000 shares of Apple stock. But he should beware: prosperity is no guarantee of happiness.

Writing in the New York Times, Jonathan Rauch notes: “Real per capita income has more than tripled since the late 1950s, but the percentage of people saying they are very happy has, if anything, slightly declined.”

Why?

A Harvard study tracked a group of men for close to eighty years. The bottom line: loving relationships are the key to happiness and health. It was not money or status but strong interpersonal relationships that led to the greatest life satisfaction.

This news should not surprise Christians. We know that we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27) and that our Creator is relational by nature. He relates to himself as Father, Son, and Spirit. And “God is love” (1 John 4:8), an attribute that requires someone to love.

Here’s the question: With whom should we most seek a loving relationship as the key to happiness? The answer may surprise you.

A personal confession

I was led to faith in Christ through a bus ministry. A church in my Houston, Texas, neighborhood enlisted volunteers to knock on doors, inviting people to ride their bus to church. In August 1973, they knocked on my apartment door. My brother and I came to Jesus as a result.

I will be eternally grateful for evangelical churches that emphasize evangelism and practical ministry. But I was active in church life for years before I began realizing that Jesus wanted to be more than my Savior and Lord–he wants to be my friend. He wants an intimate, personal, loving, daily relationship with me. He wants to be a “friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).

How is it possible to have such a relationship with the Son of God?

The fact is, you and I can know Jesus better than we can know anyone else. Here are three reasons this miraculous statement is true.

One: Jesus loves us unconditionally.

Our…