How excited is a child is when you give them a new toy? Yet how often do you find the toy discarded just a few hours later? While out shopping, I have often noticed a mother with a child who begs his mom for a brand new toy. His mother will remind him that he has plenty of toys at home, but the child will respond, “But I want this one mom! Please!”

As adults we can often be like the unsatisfied child. We are always searching for the next cool gadget or thing to give us that temporary emotional fix—that next high. Why? Because we soon discover that the high that we were on was not enough, and we go in search for something more exciting.

We have all seen in the news recently the transformation of Bruce Jenner into a woman. Jenner won a gold medal for the decathlon in the 1976 Olympics. His photo was featured on a Wheaties box because of his accomplishments. With all of Jenner’s accomplishments, he was still not happy, so he made a huge change in his life to become a woman. Jenner said he made this change because he was unhappy being a man. I wonder, will this change give Jenner the happiness he craves?

Luke Malone reported: “According to surveys, 4.6 percent of the overall U.S. population has self-reported a suicide attempt, with that number climbing to between 10 and 20 percent for lesbian, gay or bisexual respondents. By comparison, 41 percent of trans or gender non-conforming people surveyed have attempted suicide.” The author goes on to write that trans men are the most impacted, with 46 percent reporting an attempt in their lifetime. Trans women are close behind at 42 percent, and female-assigned cross-dressers report rates of 44 percent (Luke Malone, March 2015, "Transgender Suicide Attempt Rates Are Staggering"). I wonder how many of those who attempted suicide sought to change their sexual identity because they thought it would make them happy. Sadly, it seems it only masked a deeper problem instead of solving it. Will the sex change that Jenner has undergone give him the ultimate happiness he is searching for?

Some people think that if I they could only win the lottery, that would change everything. They would be so happy. Michael Norton, associate professor at Harvard Business School, said: “Research shows that the impact of additional income on happiness begins to level off around $75,000 of income, but people keep trying to make more and more money in the mistaken belief that their happiness will continue to increase. As a result of this mistaken belief, people think that big windfalls will change their happiness dramatically and may end up with less happiness than they expected” (Melissa Dahl, NBC News, “$550 million will buy you a lot of ... misery”).

Money can buy you a bed but not a good night’s sleep. Money can buy you a house but not a home. And remember the Beatles song “Can’t Buy Me Love”? Money will not buy you ultimate lasting happiness. The next drink, the next awesome toy, the next relationship, the sex change—none of it can bring you ultimate happiness. Even another person cannot make you happy.

Your happiness has to come from the Creator who created you. God built you to need Him and without Him there will always be a void that no one or nothing can fill. Our fulfillment, our contentment, and our happiness are contingent upon our relationship with God. Without Him, we will always be searching for that next high.

In his book Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis put it this way: “God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other.” So the idea is to seek God, and happiness will follow. As the Psalmist wrote, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!” (Psalm 144:15).

“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3). How many of us want “perfect peace”?

Your next high and most important high can only come from God. God and only God is the One who can fill that void and give you complete happiness. He designed it that way. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Notice that you will be filled. No need to search for the next high. Put God, not things, first in your life. Then and only then will you be filled with happiness.