“God wants me to be happy, right?” We’ve probably all heard this question asked. The assumed answer is “yes,” but in reality, it’s more complicated than that. God doesn’t want us to be unhappy, but our happiness is somewhat low on the list. What He wants is for us to be holy, meaning like Him in our moral goodness. Let’s stop here for a second and acknowledge that it is intimidating to even contemplate being that good. It’s OK. He knows. And the Holy Spirit empowers us to follow Christ’s example. The important thing is that we “seek first His kingdom” (Matthew 6:33); not our happiness.
Many parents will say, “I just want my kids to be happy”. What about wanting your kids to be good? Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive, in fact, I would argue that one of the best ways to be happy is to do good, but maybe we aren’t really thinking through the ramifications of what we say. If you had the power to choose happiness or goodness for your children, which would you choose?
God chooses goodness. Just look at the prophets. God called them to radical obedience. Hosea had to marry an unfaithful woman as an illustration to the people of Israel (Hosea 1:2). Jeremiah had to live through the destruction of Jerusalem and was later deported to Egypt. The prophet Ezekiel had to lie on his side for over a year (Ezekiel 4:4-6)! Most prophets were outcasts, often hated by the kings to whom they were called to minister. God didn’t call them to unhappiness, but He did call them to obedience, as He does all of us to this day.
The world around us over-values happiness. In fact, the way some people live it would seem happiness is their highest good. Not so for Christians. Happiness is a by-product of living by our values and doing those things that build our self-worth. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to get caught up in the current happiness craze, or using bad theology to justify what we want to do.
