In order to understand God’s love in our current culture, it’s necessary to distinguish what love doesn’t mean and to see it in relationship to God’s other attributes. Yes, God is love, but it is not His only attribute, nor is it always His defining attribute. 

If we asked people to vote on a divine character quality they most appreciate, God’s love would surely receive far more votes than His holiness. Christians tend to reflect our culture, and because our culture values love and devalues holiness, we do the same.

كراعي شاب لكنيسةٍ، كنتُ أعظ، كما لا يزال آخرون يعظون أيضًا، بهذه الكلمات: "إن الله يدعونا إلى القداسة، لا إلى السعادة".  دا هذا كله روحيًّا للغاية، وقد أمكنني أيضًا الاستشهاد بعدد لا يُحصى من الكُتَّاب والوعّاظ الذين يتفقون معي. لكنني الآن على قناعة بأننا كنا جميعًا مخطئين تمامًا.

“神呼召我们成为圣洁，而不是享受福乐”——在做牧师的早年生涯中，我也像今天许多人一样如此宣讲。这话只对了一半。我见过基督徒追求他们眼中的快乐，一头栽进淫乱、酗酒、唯物主义以及对属世成功的痴迷。

The desire for happiness in Jesus is not in opposition to our sanctification; it goes hand in hand with true, humble, Christ-honoring holiness.

Un évangile qui favorise la sainteté sur le bonheur n'est pas un bonne nouvelle.  

In April 2017, Randy Alcorn spoke at the Life Impact Event on the topic of Heaven and happiness. He was interviewed by the president of Life Impact, David Knauss. In this clip, Randy talks about how holiness and happiness relate to one another. For more information, check out Randy's Happiness book.

Something would be terribly wrong if we weren’t grieving for this world and those who suffer. But is it okay to be happy when we live in a world of hurt? And beyond that, is it actually God’s calling? Those questions motivated me to go deeper into Scripture and to see what people through the ages have said about happiness, especially the Puritans. 

Randy Alcorn answers the question, "Does being holy cancel out being happy?" while he was interviewed on The Georgene Rice Show. For more information on this subject, please visit: http://store.epm.org/happiness/.