5 Days To A Happier YouExemplo

Three years ago, I never would have spoken this sentence aloud: “I want to be happy.” 

I would have thought it, and secretly, I would have wanted happiness. But I would have been scared to admit it.

I would have told you that I wanted joy instead. I would have told you that God cared more about my holiness.

For most of my life, I’ve been a happy person. But somewhere along the way, I had lost the fullness of my happiness. During those times of unhappiness, my great comfort came in believing that God didn’t care about happiness anyway. I figured, If I can’t be happy, I’m still good with God. My holiness, then, became an excuse to stop seeking happiness.

This is a tragic error of Christians everywhere. So many of us wrongly believe that we have to pick one or the other: happiness or Jesus. There is a third option: happy holiness. 

Our inner desire for happiness isn’t a sin. It’s a desire planted in us by God. 

The Scriptures don’t pit holiness against happiness. In fact, Jesus gave us a beautiful picture of true happiness in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7). When he delivered that sermon, the first word out of his mouth was happy.

“Happy are those who . . .”

The word for happy in the Scriptures is the Greek makarios. Some translations use the English word blessed whenever makarios appears in the New Testament. But other translators—aware that makarios comes from the word makar (which means happy or blessed)—translate the word to happiness instead.

When we desire happiness, we aren’t heretics. In important ways, we are seeking after God’s own heart. 

 Read: “Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven” (Matthew 5:12, New Living Translation)

 Reflect: Contemplate Matthew 5:12. Think about the promise of “a great reward” in heaven. How might that eternal promise translate into happiness right here, right now? 

Pray: How have you experienced happiness in God? In what ways has it been tied to a heart of holiness? Take some time to thank God for those moments of happy holiness. 

  

Jennifer Dukes Lee is the author of The Happiness Dare and It’s All Under Control. You’ll love Jennifer’s  “Dares of the Day” challenge. For 10 days straight, she’ll send you scientifically and biblically proven ways to boost your happiness.

Adapted from The Happiness Dare copyright © 2016 by Jennifer Dukes Lee. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.