As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we reflect on its enduring claim that all people are endowed by their Creator with the rights to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Today, we might summarize these ideals as a desire for a high quality of life—one marked by safety, freedom, purpose and happiness.
How can such a life be found?
In the New Testament, John 17:3 teaches, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
While “eternal life” is often understood as a quantity of life, or everlasting, it can also be understood as a quality of life, one that reflects the character of God. In this sense, eternal life is not only about duration, but about depth, meaning, peace and divine quality.
According to this passage, such a life comes through knowing God and Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to truly know God?
The artist Vincent van Gogh suggested that we come to know God by learning to love. He said: “I cannot help thinking that the best way of knowing God is to love many things. Love this friend, this person, this thing, whatever you like, and you will be on the right road to understanding Him better… But you must love with a sublime, genuine, profound sympathy, with devotion, with intelligence, and you must try all the time to understand Him more, better and yet more. That will lead to God, that will lead to an unshakable faith.”
This idea aligns with the teachings of the Apostle Paul, who wrote, “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2).” Knowledge, ability and even faith are incomplete without love.
Jesus Christ emphasized this principle in what He called a “new commandment”: “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” (John 13:34). The command to love was not new—but the standard was. Christ calls us to love as He loved: selflessly, consistently and without expectation of return.
The pursuit of happiness, then, may be understood as the pursuit of a Godlike life—a life rooted in love for God and for others. This kind of life does not come easily or quickly. It requires effort, growth, humility and time. Yet it is in this very pursuit that we begin to experience a richer, deeper quality of life.
In the end, the path to a more meaningful life is not found in achievement, but in transformation. As we learn to love like God and do as God would do, we come to know God better and more deeply—and in doing so, we move closer to the quality of life described by Jesus as eternal.
Clint J. Zollinger is the Bishop of the Gilroy Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is a member of the Interfaith Clergy Alliance of South County.
