I recently saw an article on a Christian website that’s targeted at young adults that pitted holiness and happiness against each other as if they are enemies:

Happiness is our idol. Why are we not pursuing holiness with the same passion with which we are pursuing happiness? Happiness is a perilous thing. It focuses our attention on ourselves and how we are feeling in the moment. But moments change. People change. Happiness will not hold. It’s a season—a side effect of when things are going well and your dopamine levels are up. Happiness is great to enjoy in the moment, but to spend a lifetime chasing it warps it into the idol we have made it out to be.

In many ways, I agree. We totally idolize happiness. That’s why we deal with materialism. We think stuff will make us happy. That’s also why we deal with sexual impurity. We think experiences will make us happy. And so that’s why many Christians push back and say, “You need to stop pursuing holiness, and start pursuing happiness.”

But … what if you don’t have to make that choice? What if happiness and holiness aren’t enemies? What if they’re friends?

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Holy people are happy, and happy people are holy. [/perfectpullquote]The Puritans believed that. Many people think the Puritans were onot about holiness, and completely against happiness, but look at what a Puritan named Thomas Brooks said: “Holiness differs nothing from happiness but in name. Holiness is happiness in the bud, and happiness is holiness at the full.”

This is the lesson that parents try to teach their kids, but for some reason we still don’t learn it for ourselves. Holy people are happy, and happy people are holy. You want to be happy? Be holy. That’s what David wrote in Psalm 24:

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. (Psalm 24:3-5)

Those with clean hands and pure hearts are happy. They receive God’s blessing. And if you want to know what that blessing looks like, just go back a page. Psalm 23 is all about the blessing and happiness that you find in God:

The Lord is my shepherd. In other words, he leads me, protects me, and guides me. Isn’t it good to have a guide? Do you remember trying to go out to eat before Yelp? Trying to plan vacations before TripAdvisor?

For our one year anniversary, I took my wife to San Francisco. I found a hotel called the Pickwick Manor. The name alone should have been a red flag. We checked in, went up to our room, opened the door, and … it only opended about 12 inches. I poked my head in, and I saw why. The room was about 7 feet by 9 feet. The door couldn’t open all the way because it was bumping into the bed!

My wife gave me one of those looks, but it was too late. We sat down on the bed, and that’s when we realized that we were right next to the 100-year-old elevator, grunting and groaning. Then we started hearing a plastic bag crinkling in the corner. I looked over, and saw three rats fighting over a bag of M&M’s. My wife said, “That’s it! We can’t stay here!” We took our bags, checked out, lost our 3-nights’ deposit, and walked down to the Hyatt.

There are so many times in life when I really could have used some guidance. And David’s saying, “I’ve got all the guidance I need. The Lord is my shepherd.”

I shall not want. In other words, he meets all my needs.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He gives me rest and refreshment, even when I don’t think I need it. Like when I get sick, and I’m zonked out in bed for 3 days. I’m saying, God, “I don’t have time for this!” But God is making me lie down. Or when I take my car to get fixed for something that should take half an hour, but I’m still in the waiting area 6 hours later … God is making me lie down.

He leads me beside still waters. He provides refreshment and nourishment.

He restores my soul. Because it needs to be restored every day.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. In other words, even when life is at its worst — even when it feels like God’s hitting me with a rod —even then I feel comfort, because I know he’s doing it for my good.

And that’s what you get when you have clean hands and a pure heart. When you “do not lift up your soul to what is false and do not swear deceitfully.” When you’re holy.

But there’s a problem. You know it instinctively as soon as you hear those conditions for God’s blessing. You know your hands are dirty. You know your heart’s impure. You know you lift up your soul to all kinds of things, all the time. So what hope do you have? Well, there’s a hint in Psalm 24:

He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. (Psalm 24:5-6)

The original text doesn’t include the words “God of.” Literally it just says, “those who seek the face of Jacob.” God is taking the name of Jacob, which is shocking. Because that means God’s identifying himself with a guy who did swear deceitfully. A guy who did lift up his soul to what was false. A guy who had dirty hands and an impure heart. God’s taking on that guy’s name.

By doing that, God is pointing us forward in the story to the time when he was going to identify with all of us who swear deceitfully. All of us who lift up our souls to what’s false. All of us who have dirty hands and impure hearts.

When God came to earth as Jesus Christ, he was identifying with us. He took on our dirtiness and impurity and sin, even though he was completely clean. And he took our sin to the cross. He died and he took our sin into the tomb. He rose from the grave and left our sin behind. Then he ascended into heaven.

In other words, Jesus ascended the hill of the Lord. He’s the only one who can. And because of what he did on the cross, he’s bringing you with him. You get to share in his victory.

You’ve been declared holy by Jesus Christ, and that frees you to be holy every day through Jesus Christ and enjoy God’s blessing every day because of Jesus Christ. Happiness and holiness are yours.