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From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham

Dear Rev. Graham: My daughter is on a pursuit of finding happiness and though she grew up in church, she is on the wrong path. As her father, I see destruction ahead for her because she is running after the things society tells her will make her successful and happy. My part in it is that I’ve enabled her to experience travel and adventure. She says she is absolutely sure that God is directing her this way and that whatever she does wrong, God will make it right in the end. She believes this is the message of the Bible – to experience life to the fullest. I’m at a loss how to communicate that this is a dangerous interpretation of Scripture. – D.F.

Dear D.F.: King Solomon was convinced he knew how to find happiness – and because he had vast resources at his command, he was able to pursue it. Wealth, fame, pleasure, power, lavish houses, a reputation for wisdom – you name it, he achieved it. And yet after gaining everything he had ever wanted, he reluctantly concluded that his life was still empty and without meaning. His search for lasting happiness had failed and his soul was still empty.

Solomon himself had vowed to live according to God’s wisdom, but pursuing the things of the world misled him, deceived him. He wrote, “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor … . Then I looked at all the works that my hands had done … and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind” (Ecclesiastes 2:10–11, NKJV).

The world makes a lot of empty promises concerning happiness – what it looks like and how to obtain it. But the truth is that true contentment comes to those who delight in the Lord and meditate on God’s Word.

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(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)