Happiness
is big, and perhaps it’s always been big. Its pursuit is enshrined in the U.S.
Declaration of Independence. The comic strip Peanuts told us happiness was a
warm puppy. Before it was a common expression, “Don’t worry, be happy” started
life in 1988 as a song by Bobby McFerrin that went to No. 1 on the charts. The
most popular course today at Yale University is one on happiness. I even knew
of a Christian who justified leaving her husband and family for another man
because “God wants me to be happy.” Yes, happiness is a major cultural idea.
Yet try
finding the concept of happiness in the Bible. The word “happy” as translated
in the King James version of the Bible is actually better translated as “blessed,”
and more contemporary translations use “blessed.” God never promised happiness,
at least as we understand it in human terms. He promised a lot of other things –
grace, forgiveness, salvation, protection – but not happiness, at least as we
understand it in popular culture. He did, however, promise joy, and joy in all
things and circumstances.
In Can
I Have Joy in My Life?, the late R.C. Sproul considers this promise of
joy, and suggests that joy can be found not only when life is good but also
when one is experiencing hardship, suffering, and difficulties.
Joy is not
only an attitude or a way of thinking; it is a quality of our existence as
believers. It can be found in all things, Sproul says, including pain,
suffering and loss. He suggests that the idea of happiness is more aligned with
what benefits ourselves and our own circumstances, while joy is what benefits
others. It is not self-directed but other-directed. The source of our joy is “the
assurance we have in redemption in Christ,” he says, and the knowledge that our
name is written in the Book of Life.
 |
| R.C. Sproul |
Until his death in December of 2017, Sproul
led Ligonier
Ministries, based in Sanford,
Florida. He wrote numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity,
church history, theology, Calvinism, Reformed theology, and related
topics. The Crucial Questions series now
includes some 30 topics which are free as eBooks, and volume on conscience
is a part of the series.
We live in a time and culture that prizes
happiness to such a degree that we willingly sacrifice what matters. Instead,
as Sproul writes, we should consider joy, for joy in our lives will accomplish
far more than any transient idea of happiness.
Related:
It's interesting. Randy Alcorn has written a large volume called Happiness in which he argues against the idea that joy and happiness are two different, separate concepts. Instead, he argues that God does want us to be happy, but we are akin to the C.S. Lewis quote about children playing with mud pies or sand or whatever while we fail to experience the complete picture of the grand joy/happiness that God has for us in Christ. Anyway, I would recommend Alcorn's book to complement this one. It does come down to arguing semantics to some extent, but nevertheless Alcorn has a lot of good things to say.
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