Does God Want You to be Happy?
God is pleased. How about you? The other day I saw a post where folks were talking about being happy...some even saying God wants you to be happy. Others say God wants you to be wealthy. And some even go further to say He wants you healthy. God is in the heavens and he does what he wants to do. So I guess the real question is, "what does he want"?
It's a bit difficult for me to imagine Jesus hanging on a cross, bleeding to death and being spat on simply so I could be happy. I know that scripture says he desires my health and prosperity. But prosperity to me and the way God sees it may be different. For instance I might think that prosperity is getting that new job with a promotion and God might be orchestrating another opportunity that gives me more time with my family. Perhaps we get too caught up in things like wealth, health and happiness that we miss the real purpose of God for our lives; he wants us to be holy. God wants us to have a relationship with him. He longs to talk with his children. That's why prayer is so important to each of us. But we don't pray so that we can have things and be happier. God gave us prayer to make us like Jesus. When you have a relationship with Jesus you realize that you want to be like Him...to live and walk in a life worthy of being called a Christ follower. He does not hope you are wealthy...he prays for you to be holy!
I can say through my own experiences that when I live in right relationship with Christ, I am happier. But my happiness was not Gods end result...my being reconciled to him was. Happiness is an emotion. Holiness is a lifestyle. So let's stop debating over whether God wants us to always be smiling with a healthy heart and a fat wallet. Most of the time life just doesn't work out that way. We need help. We need hope. Choose to focus our energy on something that all of us as followers of Christ agree on...Jesus is all that we need. When we get Jesus we have what is necessary. Now I can honestly say that I'm happy about that!
