People seem to place a lot of weight on being happy in life. Even the greeting "How are you doing?" seems to imply whether you are happy or not. So many people work so that they can have the money to "enjoy" life. But there is an important fundamental question: Does God want us to be happy?
I think the answer to this question is "not necessarily." As C. S. Lewis once said, "God isn't concerned with if we are happy or not. God wants us to love, and be loved." But loving and being loved isn't the same as being happy. Because there is pain in life, there will still be love, but not necessarily happiness.
So what do we do with this? If God isn't overly concerned with our happiness, then we shouldn't be either. And the truth is, the less we worry about happiness, the better off we will be. We should have the thinking that the apostle Paul tries to tell us in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." At the heart of rejoicing in understanding that God is with us in all circumstances. So whether we are happy or not, we rejoice because we know God walks with us.
Let us try and rejoice more, and worry less about happiness. In the end, God's blessings will carry us through. Let me know what you think (pastorchrislogan@yahoo.com).
