Happiness is God’s Will for Us

A couple of weeks ago I was wondering whether or not God wants His people to be Happy. I found that He certainly does. So much so, that Jesus devoted a whole sermon on just exactly how we can be happy! Another word for happy is blessed.  I think it’s safe to say that happiness is God’s will for us!

The question: how do we go about figuring out what Jesus meant when he said “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” How can I possibly be happy when I’m mourning something?

The Beatitudes are just that…they tell us how we should BE. The first of the beatitudes tells us that we are to be poor in spirit. This, simply put, means we must know we have a need for God in our lives.

The next beatitude says Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4   How can this possibly be?  Think of the beatitudes as a story. The first part of the story is that we realize our need for God. Immediately, God reaches down and takes us in.

All of a sudden, I look down and see my dirty, rotten, selfish, mean and hateful ‘self’ and realize ~ I’m not worthy of a place with God. I’ve got to do something. How very shameful I’ve been.

And it’s at this point that I grieve for my sins.  I mourn for what I have done to disgrace the God of my salvation.

I am sorry! But you know as well as I that being sorry doesn’t fix anything. It can’t repair the damage that my sin has caused. There’s no magic wand to wave, that will undo this mess I’ve made. How can I ever make this right?  The truth is that I can’t make it right. There’s not one thing I can do.

I can’t undo what I have done. Oh, how I wish I could, don’t you?  I’m truly, from my heart, remorseful. But I’m helpless to change my bad deeds. What’s done is done.

As I hang my head in shame, I lift my eyes to look around and see all the blessings God has in store for me and I know better than anyone, I don’t deserve any of it. I’m wretched and sinful and unclean.  It’s then, I realize what might have been,  if it weren’t for my sin. Covered in a lifetime of regrets and shame, I can only mourn my sin and the loss of all I see before me.

That’s when my Father steps in and with more compassion than I can comprehend, takes my dirty rotten garments from me and covers me with His robe of righteousness and says, “Come and sit at the table I have prepared for you.” “You belong to me.” “You have always belonged to me.”

That, dear reader, is comfort of the highest order. That’s security. There’s nothing more comforting than to know we belong to God. Comfort is knowing He is holding us in His hand and nothing satan can ever throw at us or bring into our lives can ever snatch us from His hands.  That’s true comfort! That’s eternal security. That’s being blessed. That’s true happiness.

Our society is mistaken to think happiness can be found in the things we possess, whether fame or fortune. As I mentioned before, Hollywood tells a totally different story. If what they say were true,  they would all be ecstatically happy. Instead theirs is a constant need for more and more fame, power, drugs, sex, money, marriages ~ all an attempt to find something in life that satisfies.

Remember in the very first beatitude we saw our need for God, for we were poor in spirit? At that very point, when we saw our need to have the Living God in our lives, we were welcomed into His family and received the Kingdom of Heaven. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.” It was already ours.

The Bible says that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God did that for us before we ever saw our need for Him. He made the first move toward us.

As we stand and mourn our sin, God steps in and comforts us with this truth. He already made a way for us to be “righteous” and stand blameless in His presence. Now we can look around, not in shame,  but in absolute joy and happiness at all God has done for us.

Blessed….happy…are those who mourn, for they shall  be comforted. God’s happiness is not temporal like the happiness the world has to offer. Living in a big house, driving a fancy car, having lots of money are fine and dandy.   They may or may not make us happy.

The happiness God gives us is a deep down comfort that we know, that we know, that we know, our sins are forgiven and God loves us, no matter what. THAT is the true happiness that God wants for us. And we can have this happiness no matter our station in life…whether we have the big house, fancy car or money.

The happiness God offers us is true contentment, no matter what our circumstances.

So yes, it’s absolutely true.  Happiness is God’s will for us.  So tell me, doesn’t that make you happy??? It does me!