Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

I’m currently reading a book that gave me ideas for two blog posts on two successive pages, which means the author gave me some pretty amazing insights. Before I get to my thoughts . . . For those who know me they will be aware of my annoying habit of always telling them to . . . . Read More! My kids have born the brunt of that abuse most of their lives, but friends and other loved ones get it too. One reason, among many, that everyone should read more, is that human beings are made in God’s image, and as such they are revelations of his being. The thoughts of other people who grapple with reality can help us better understand the nature of things as God created them to work. There is much deep wisdom outside of the Bible that helps us better understand God’s special revelation in the Bible. I would go so far as to say that those who read and study outside of the Bible can better understand what’s in it than those who only read the Bible. So if you really want to grow more in wisdom, understanding, prudence, insight, discernment, judgment, etc. (which are all basically different facets of wisdom), you will read more (books)! What this means practically is that the puzzle pieces of life will fit a whole lot better when you make extra-biblical reading a consistent habit of your life. Enough lecturing, and now on to those thoughts.

I’ve never been a big fan of the word “happy.” Mainly because the word as commonly understood implies a mood or emotional state that is fleeting and focused on the self. The further implication of the word is that the state of happiness depends on circumstances in our lives being just as we think we want them. Frictions, obstacles, challenges, struggles are seen as impediments to happiness. It is this conception of the word that 19th century Princeton theologian Charles Hodge had in mind when writing about happiness in his Systematic Theology:

Few principles . . . have been so productive of false doctrine and immorality as the principle that all virtue consists in benevolence, that happiness is the highest good, and that whatever promotes happiness is right.

I could not agree more, but everything turns on what we mean by happiness. If we mean shallow, fleeting, self-centered satisfaction then yes, Hodge nails it. The problem is that that is exactly what most people think of when they think of happiness. As long as I’m feeling good and everything is going like I think I want it, I’m happy! The issue we must confront is that life rarely offers us smooth waters and pleasant winds. Yet for some perverse reason (hint: we’re sinners!), we think that is exactly what life ought to give us. When it doesn’t, guess who is to blame? God! He’s God after all, right? He should know my circumstances suck, and that his job is to help me out by making things a bit more copacetic. Well, maybe not.

So, to the book I referred to above, a wonderful read called Cultural Apologetics: Renewing the Christian Voice, Conscience, and Imagination in a Disenchanted World by Paul M. Gould. This was the passage that struck me:

Many today don’t see how God is related to our happiness. If anything, God is seen in contrast to human happiness, opposed to our joy. If there is happiness to be found, it will be found on human terms, free from limitations of desires.

I immediately thought of how most of us think of life when things, in the semi-vulgar term used above, suck.

Sin distorts everything, including to life’s tribulations, in the words of Jesus. We too easily forget that Jesus himself promised us that, “In the world you will have tribulation.” No kidding, Jesus! And the Greek John uses for tribulation or trouble is no small bump in the road, but intense, emotional struggle that drives us to our wits end, and knowing the rest of the story, into the arms of God! This kind of life doesn’t leave much room for the shallow self-centered notion of happiness. What it does leave room for is a much richer, fuller, more challenging life that truly fulfills because it is built on the pain of sanctification. We are transformed through the struggle so we welcome it. Even when it is most unpleasant. God never says we have to like it; we just have to learn how to appreciate it, get rid of the crappy attitude, praise God and thank him, as Paul tells us, in all circumstances.

I just read a great piece by Tal Bachman reviewing Aristotle’s Politics, and it’s tremendous. I’ll finish this post with a paragraph where he and Aristotle address this very concept.

So what is our telos (purpose)? It is to live a life of εὐδαιμονία, or eudaimonia, he says. This word is often translated as “happiness”, but this doesn’t really do the word justice. What living a life of eudaimonia amounts to, for Aristotle, is living a life of flourishing and excellence, virtue and reason, blessedness and adequate means, contentment and “good-spiritedness” (the literal meaning of the word). It’s a kind of expanded version of what we think of, when we think of “the good life”.

God wants us to be far more and better than merely happy. He wants us to live a fully flourishing life in Christ, and we get it because he gives us not always what we think we want, but always exactly what we need. He gives us himself!