Resources by Topic: Happiness

The better I know Jesus, the more I see Him all around me—in people, animals, places, and objects. But if I hadn’t studied His Word and reflected on His character over the years, I wouldn’t have known what to look for.

Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different—that God wants us happy because He’s happy!

The article you shared repeats the same tired platitudes about joy vs. happiness that Randy addresses in his books. It all sounds spiritual… but writing such as this is based on very little other than frequently repeated half-truths in the Christian world!

The church's false and unbiblical distinctions between happiness and holiness, and between happiness and joy, contradict the “good news of happiness” we’re promised in the Messiah (see Isaiah 52:7, ESV and NASB, two of the most literal translations)!

Psalm 1 says the one who continually meditates on God’s Word “is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither” (v. 3, CSB). Trees don’t choose where to place themselves, but we do.

This article was sent to me by reader Charlene Nelson, who describes her journey in discovering the happiness God offers His children. Thanks, Charlene, for sharing how my book Happiness has encouraged you along the way. 

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). The Good News Translation renders this verse, “The joy that the Lord gives you will make you strong.” The passage isn’t simply about our joy in God but about the way God imparts His joy to us.

A teenage boy came to me with questions about his faith. He’d attended church all his life but now had some doubts. I assured him that even the writers of the Bible sometimes struggled. He wasn’t questioning any basic Christian beliefs, and he didn’t need six evidences for Christ’s resurrection, so I talked to him about holiness and happiness.

Jesus said to His disciples, “When you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done’” (Luke 17:10, NASB). He’s saying, in effect, “Lower your sense of what you deserve.”

Psychologists and self-help books offer proven methods for increasing a subjective sense of happiness. However, without faith in Christ and the indwelling Spirit as an agent of change, we’re left without a solid foundation for happiness.

If we are going to fully trust God, it’s vital that we believe in a happy God who cares deeply for our welfare and is active in creation and redemption.

We’re accustomed to thinking of duty as drudgery, not happiness. But a person’s duty to love his or her spouse or to care for a son or daughter, and a soldier’s duty to defend his country—when done with the right heart and perspective—all bring satisfaction, contentment, and happiness.

Many Christians spiritualize the word joy, contrasting it with happiness and portraying it as independent of emotion or pleasure. Some claim that joy is a fruit of the Spirit and therefore not an emotion. 

Pastor Steve Bateman gives an important correction to the modern sentiment that being happy due to positive circumstances, including the welfare of loved ones, is somehow unspiritual. True, circumstances change, and our happiness should be grounded on Christ, who doesn’t change, but that doesn’t make it inappropriate to rejoice in favorable immediate circumstances.