To be godly is to resemble God. If God were unhappy, we’d need to pursue unhappiness, which sounds as fun as cultivating an appetite for gravel. Fortunately, however, God doesn’t condemn or merely tolerate our desire to be happy; He gave us that longing.

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 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)!

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.

Growing up in an unbelieving home, I never heard the word blessed as a child. After I came to Christ, I heard it often. I didn’t know what it meant; I just knew it sounded holy and spiritual.

Dieu a inscrit sa loi dans nos cœurs (Romains 2:15). De toute évidence, il y a aussi gravé un ardent désir de bonheur. Le fait est que, dès le début de l'histoire de l'Église, il y a eu un consensus entre les théologiens.

À travers l’histoire, la joie et le bonheur en Christ ont souvent été assimilés. En contradiction flagrante avec les croyants ayant vécu avant le vingtième siècle, de nombreux chrétiens contemporains ont décrit le bonheur comme étant au mieux, inférieur à la joie et au pire, mauvais.

Com base em livros que li, sermões que ouvi e conversas que tive, é claro que muitos cristãos crêem que o desejo da humanidade por felicidade foi concebido na queda e faz parte da maldição. Portanto, o desejo de ser feliz é muitas vezes considerado como o desejo de pecar.

Há uma longa e rica história de equivalência entre a alegria e a felicidade em Cristo. Em contraste com os crentes antes do século XX, muitos cristãos modernos retratam a felicidade como, na melhor das hipóteses, inferior à alegria e, na pior das hipóteses, ao mal.