Does God Want Me To Be Happy?

Does God Want Me To Be Happy?

by Sep 11, 2019

Does God Want Me To Be Happy?

by Sep 11, 2019

Have you ever heard people say, “God cares about your holiness, not your happiness?”

I’ve heard it before, and I heard it because I used to say that. In a culture filled with people telling us to go after things that make you happy as if that’s the only thing that should matter in the world is what caused me and many others to teach that “God desires your holiness, not your happiness.”

The only problem with teaching this is that our holy God’s nature is to be happy. And God has called us to be like him and the more like him we are the happier we will be. Let’s look at a few verses in the Bible that talk about happy people:

Psalm 1:1 – How happy is the one who does not walk. In the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!

Psalm 2:2 – Pay homage to the Son or he will be angry and you will perish in your rebellion, for his anger may ignite at any moment. All who take refuge in him are happy.

Psalm 34:8 – Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!

Proverbs 29:18 – Without revelation people run wild, but one who follows divine instruction will be happy.

Clearly, from these few verses, happiness is a good thing. Of course, the Scripture is clear that any attempt to find happiness apart from God will lead you toward sin and at best will leave you empty. But the Bible is also clear that pursuing holiness, obeying God’s word, putting your trust in Jesus, and taking refuge in God will lead to happiness.

Randy Alcorn has written a recent article dealing with this exact topic and here’s what he says:

Our message to the world should not be ‘Don’t seek happiness,” but “You’ll find in Jesus the happiness you have always been seeking.’” The problem with our pursuit of happiness is that we look for it in places that can’t provide it. The solution is not to turn people away from that pursuit but to direct them to the only one who can give eternal happiness.