Who says that happiness is all in your genes?

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"- 2 Corinthians 5:17

The mother was shopping in the grocery store. The dad was standing at the magazine rack, browsing, and in the stroller were two identical twins about a year old, contentedly watching people walk by, yawning or occasionaly stretching. Sounds too good to be true, right? I mean, there were two of them, and they were totally contented. Maybe mine weren’t normal, but I recall pushing the stroller through crowded aisles as they pulled stuff off the shelf, punched one another in public and yelled like crazy.

Scientists today are saying it is all in your genes. Dr. Edward Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois, has proposed a concept which he calls a "happiness set point". He says that your ability to be calm, well adjusted, and yes, happy, comes primarily from your parents. That’s why my offspring happened to run with a tighter spring than some. They can blame me for this, and I will blame my father. Of course, why not? The remaining factors that relate to our disposition come from environment.

There is one thing about the recent studies that greatly bothers me. The bottom line of their research seems to say that whatever you are is primarily the result of heredity. That your ability to be happy is pretty much fixed. No matter what happens, you’re going to drift back into a pattern which you were born with.

While a lot in the study does make sense, it overlooks a powerful factor: the God-dimension in life, the power of God’s Holy Spirit to effect changes in your outlook in life. Writing to the Corinthians, Paul made a statement that runs counter to what modern research is saying. He says, "Therefore, if anyoe is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Living Bible paraphrase puts it, "When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a brand new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!"

I’m quick to concede that if we live as if there is no God, and He’s not there to help us at the point of our weakness, when we turn over new leaves we will only see our good intentions crumble, drift back into our past failures and mistakes. But the Good News of the Gospel is that my life can be different. God can make a difference, and I do not have to be a victim of my heredity. Has God made a difference in your life? Are you cooperating with Him in the work that He’s doing in your life? - Resource reading: Galatians 5:16-26