Is Unending Happiness Too Good To Be True?

Is unending happiness too good to be true?

Happy [are] those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked. . . . Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy. Psalm 1:1-2, NAB

If a man would lead a happy life, let him but seek a sure object for his trust, and he shall be safe: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. THOMAS MANTON

A PHYSICIAN OR THERAPIST will tell you it’s not easy to convince people to do what they need to do unless it’s also what they want to do. God offers, through Jesus, not only what people need but also what they want.

C. S. Lewis said, “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire. . . . If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to . . . the thing that has them.”^a It’s God who is the source of all these gifts—that’s why our closeness to happiness is commensurate to our closeness to God.

Much of the battle for joy hinges on whether or not we believe God is happy and wants us to be too—and whether we recognize that at this very moment God is showing himself and his happiness in hundreds of ways, if only we’ll look.

This is what Brother Lawrence called “practicing the presence of God.” Joseph de Beaufort interviewed Lawrence, who said, “We should feed and nourish our souls with high notions of God which would yield us great joy in being devoted to Him.”^b

When we find happiness in Christ, it can’t be taken from us. Lawrence, like all of us, had times of doubts and struggle. But the default of his life was to be conscious of God’s loving presence, the key to his remarkable happiness. Beaufort said, “[Lawrence] is now so accustomed to that Divine presence that he receives from it continual comfort and peace. For about thirty years his soul has been filled with joy and delight so continual, and sometimes so great, that he is forced to find ways to hide their appearing outwardly to others who may not understand.”^c

Wouldn’t it be great if one of our biggest problems was having so much happiness in God that people couldn’t understand it?

John Piper writes, “If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”^d

It’s unrealistic to expect perpetual happiness while the Curse is in effect. But the day is coming when “there will no longer be any curse” (Revelation 22:3, HCSB). Believing this can bring us great happiness even today.

I’m not always happy, any more than I’m always holy. But by God’s grace, I’m more supernaturally happy in Christ now than I’ve ever been. And I’ve also learned to make choices that increase my joy. Great pain certainly dulls—and at times even overshadows—happiness, but it can’t destroy happiness that’s grounded in our ever-faithful God.

Nanci and I give ourselves and each other permission to let unhappiness sink in when we hear bad news. We don’t pretend all is well when it isn’t. But knowing God’s commands to rejoice in him and his all-sufficient power to enable us to do so, we meditate on his Word and call on him to impart his gladness to us. In time—whether minutes, hours, or days—God changes our natural responses with his supernatural, joy-giving presence. Sometimes sorrow and joy do battle; sometimes they coexist, but when our hearts and minds are on Christ, joy is never far away: “You changed my sorrow into dancing. You took away my clothes of sadness, and clothed me in happiness” (Psalm 30:11, NCV).

I can’t guarantee my level of happiness tomorrow, but I believe God’s rock-solid promise of never-ending happiness that can touch me here and now.

Jesus said to people starving for peace, hope, and happiness, and thirsting for significance, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). Jesus cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).

Jesus quenches our thirst from the inside. The Holy Spirit indwells us so that no matter what goes on around us, no matter what hostile and heartbreaking circumstances we face, this remains true: “Out of [our] heart will flow rivers of living water.” Not trickles, not creeks, but full-fledged rivers of life-giving water!

Jesus said, “I am the door” (John 10:9). The door to what? To the food and refreshment the sheep crave. “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” What is the bread, the water, the life, the door? Happiness in God that can be found nowhere else.

Let’s remove the blinders of burdensome, happiness-minimizing religion so we can see the appealing offers Jesus made that were obvious to his first followers. When he says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6), he’s also saying, in essence, “I am the only way to the Father’s happiness. You can’t get to true and eternal happiness unless you come through me.”

Jesus certainly offers us more than happiness—but not less.

Father, you are a fountainhead of happiness. Your promises of gladness stretch into forever. Yet you offer it to us right now. Thank you! And thank you, Lord Jesus, for your gifts that can quench our thirst, fulfill our hunger, and clothe us in contentment.