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In Defense of Happiness

Both Hebrew and Greek have one word which is translated by two English words, depending on the emphasis the translator is making. The Hebrew ‘esher and the Greek makarios can be rendered in English as happy or blessed. The link is logical. God’s blessing produces happiness. It’s rather a matter of perspective. When translators want to emphasize God’s action, they use the expression “blessed is the person...” When they want to underline the emotional response of the person whom God is blessing, they use the expression “happy is the person...”

You may have heard some preachers denigrate the idea of happiness. They tell you that “joy” is what really has value. Happiness is based on our circumstances. We can’t control them so our response to them is not significant. For most people good circumstances lead to happiness and bad ones lead to misery. Even those who do their best to influence their circumstances through wise decisions, careful planning, and good living, are subject to illness, accidents, and other negative things.

In such times, it is good to have a foundation of joy to carry us through. That kind of joy only comes from knowing God and resting in His goodness, in spite of the circumstances. It was the anticipation of joy that strengthened Jesus Himself as He anticipated going to the cross with its associated shame and pain. And it is the fact of His following through with His death on our behalf that opens the way for us to have the kind of relationship with God which provides joy for us regardless of the circumstances of life.

All that said, if I had to choose between happiness and misery, I’d choose happiness every time. I think even those in whose life God’s Spirit produces great joy would prefer happiness to misery as well. The fact that this blessed/happy idea occurs almost a hundred times suggests that this is important to God. It seems that God is as interested in our happiness as we are. That’s why there are so many things that are indicated as leading to that state.

There is one thing that is easy to overlook and that is that many of us never look past our material circumstances. When our emotional response is limited to this aspect of life, most of us will find something to make us miserable. However, if we broaden our gaze to include our spiritual circumstances, we can find a lot to make us happy.

Think about what Jesus said to Thomas: “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) This statement clearly asserts that those who have not seen Jesus with their physical eyes, yet believe, are truly blessed. Faith or trust in Jesus is one of the blessings of God that produces true, enduring happiness.

The fact that Jesus died in our place removing our sin and was raised for our justification giving us His righteousness will surely make us happy. Indeed this fact of our spiritual circumstances will triumph over even the most negative material circumstances. When the events of life conspire to provoke feelings of defeat, misery, and failure, their impact fades as we consider all that Jesus has done for us. Though we have not seen Him in the flesh, as did His disciples who walked with Him, faith in Him, His claims about Himself, the wisdom He taught, the way of life He lived, and the sacrifice He made for us lifts our eyes from the sad and difficult world around us.

When we use our spiritual eyes to look at Him, a smile begins to tug at the corner of our mouth and our faces crinkle with happiness for we are truly blessed.

Ron Hughes
© September 2007