The Pursuit Of Happiness

January 6, 2013
John Stott (1921-2011)

John Stott (1921-2011)

“Those who pursue happiness never find it. Joy and peace are extremely illusive blessings. Happiness is a will-o’-the wisp, a phantom. Even as we reach out to grab it, it vanishes into thin air. For joy and peace are not suitable goals to pursue; they are by-products of love. God gives them to us, not when we pursue them, but when we pursue him and others in love…The self-conscious pursuit of happiness will always end in failure. But when we forget ourselves in the self-giving service of love, then joy and peace come flooding into our loves as incidental, unlooked-for blessings.”

John Stott, The Writings of John Stott | edited by Timothy Dudley Smith