Several years ago, I discovered GreatCourses.com, which offers college-level courses in a variety of subjects. They are available in audio or video, and I’ve built up quite a library in the areas of science and faith. Just today, I found “Joy of Science” by Professor Robert M. Hazen, Ph.D., a professor at George Mason University. His sixty 30-minute lectures are based on a list created by English novelist and scientist C. P. Snow, including the works of Shakespeare and certain scientific ideas every educated person should know. Professor Hazen’s sixty lectures include the fundamental discoveries in physics, genetics (the most significant scientific discovery of our time is the double-helix structure of our DNA), biology, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology, thermodynamics and more.

Pharrell Williams created the song “Happy” which sold 6.45 million copies and became the number one song in nineteen countries. A few of us find “joy in science,” while others find joy in a variety of other ways, and I pray you are happy and find joy in your life.

Our church recently ordered five hundred leaflets titled, “Happiness is the Truth.” Did you know? The happiest ages are 33, 55, and 70. Statistically, only one in three Americans is happy. The happiest people spend six hours every day with family and friends. Married people are 10% happier than unmarried people. 84% of people say eating with family is the happiest part of their day. Getting an extra hour of sleep has more effect on your happiness than making $60,000 a year. Fifty-seven degrees Fahrenheit is the happiest temperature. And 74% of people who attend church at least once a month are “very happy!”

This is the ninth question in our “Absolute Basics of the Christian Faith“ asking, “What are the benefits of salvation? And the answer is, “We are pardoned by God, made part of God’s family again, and given resurrection life and power.” From Roman 5: “[1] Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. [2] By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

I spent the first part of my adult life working with chemical formulas and now I look for spiritual formulas. For the past few weeks, our church has been working with a couple of formulas, the first is “remorse (feeling sorry for your sins) plus restraint (saying no to your sins) equals repentance.” Another one of our formulas begins where the first one left off, “repentance plus forgiveness equals salvation.”

So back to our question; what are the benefits of salvation? There are three: forgiveness for your past, power for your present, and hope for your future… making you happy and enabling you to find joy in your life. One final thing I discovered this week was what makes me happy; I took thehappyquiz.com!