Thursday, April 26, 2012
Does God want me to be happy?
God wants me to be happy. I often hear this statement as a rationale for making decisions about what to do in life. On the surface it is perfectly reasonable. And yet, something about it bothers me.
For one thing, that seems to make our relationship with God more about us than God. And it is very easy to justify anything we want to do on the basis of whether it makes us happy. It also sets us up to be the judge of what real happiness is.
I am more convinced that what God wants is for us to follow Him. And in turn, that will lead to real happiness. I know that this will sometimes seem to go against what we believe will make us "happy". Things like staying in a difficult marriage, not buying a bigger house, making sure we have "me" time. You know, things we think will make us happy.
But if God really knows what is best for us then the real question is not whether God wants us to happy. The real question is how do I more perfectly live my life under the call of God. Focus on that and I believe we will find happiness.
So, I would think God wants me to be obedient. Happiness and contentment follow.
For one thing, that seems to make our relationship with God more about us than God. And it is very easy to justify anything we want to do on the basis of whether it makes us happy. It also sets us up to be the judge of what real happiness is.
I am more convinced that what God wants is for us to follow Him. And in turn, that will lead to real happiness. I know that this will sometimes seem to go against what we believe will make us "happy". Things like staying in a difficult marriage, not buying a bigger house, making sure we have "me" time. You know, things we think will make us happy.
But if God really knows what is best for us then the real question is not whether God wants us to happy. The real question is how do I more perfectly live my life under the call of God. Focus on that and I believe we will find happiness.
So, I would think God wants me to be obedient. Happiness and contentment follow.
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Tried to post on this several times throughout last week, but the computer would not cooperate.
My thought is this, heard in a marriage seminar:
God doesn't call us to be happy, He calls us to be Holy.
Yes, holy...that sense of entitlement to happiness is something that we humans have created. It isn't a "right" we have. No, God wants holiness.
The best part, if we are seeking Him in it all, we will discover that joy (not surface level happiness, but true JOY) resides in our soul...yes, it is well with our souls.
My thought is this, heard in a marriage seminar:
God doesn't call us to be happy, He calls us to be Holy.
Yes, holy...that sense of entitlement to happiness is something that we humans have created. It isn't a "right" we have. No, God wants holiness.
The best part, if we are seeking Him in it all, we will discover that joy (not surface level happiness, but true JOY) resides in our soul...yes, it is well with our souls.
I had an epiphany a year or so back as I was pulling out of my drive, that God does indeed want us to be happy.
I don't recall the exact line of thought that got me there, but I'm pretty sure I was thinking in terms of me having an aquarium full of fish and plants and water critters.
The whole purpose of my aquarium is for it to be a healthy aquarium, with healthy, contented inhabitants. I would not want my fish to suffer, or my plants to be dying, or scum overgrowing the glass, etc.
And it struck me; we live in God's aquarium. He built the cosmos for His pleasure, and part of that pleasure was to have a healthy environment with healthy, contented inhabitants. As part of that, He wanted its inhabitants to have a healthy, contented relationship with Him.
That fell apart when Adam chose self-following over God-following, bringing sickness and death into God's fishtank.
But a broken, sorrowful, unhappy aquarium is not what God wants; He wants us to be happy, in a healthy world.
Where this ties into your point that God wants us to be obedient, is that we humans are stupid; we think that being happy means doing what we want. But no; that's what Adam did, and it turned out horrible. Had Adam been obedient, happiness and contentment would have followed, just as you say.
God wants us to be happy; that's how He designed the cosmos. But that happiness follows from choosing God's leadership, not our own.
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I don't recall the exact line of thought that got me there, but I'm pretty sure I was thinking in terms of me having an aquarium full of fish and plants and water critters.
The whole purpose of my aquarium is for it to be a healthy aquarium, with healthy, contented inhabitants. I would not want my fish to suffer, or my plants to be dying, or scum overgrowing the glass, etc.
And it struck me; we live in God's aquarium. He built the cosmos for His pleasure, and part of that pleasure was to have a healthy environment with healthy, contented inhabitants. As part of that, He wanted its inhabitants to have a healthy, contented relationship with Him.
That fell apart when Adam chose self-following over God-following, bringing sickness and death into God's fishtank.
But a broken, sorrowful, unhappy aquarium is not what God wants; He wants us to be happy, in a healthy world.
Where this ties into your point that God wants us to be obedient, is that we humans are stupid; we think that being happy means doing what we want. But no; that's what Adam did, and it turned out horrible. Had Adam been obedient, happiness and contentment would have followed, just as you say.
God wants us to be happy; that's how He designed the cosmos. But that happiness follows from choosing God's leadership, not our own.
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