Is life Truly About Us being Happy?

I hear people talk about how all they want is to be happy, that life is all about being happy.  I hear it out of the mouths of those who go to church and do not go to church.  Phil Robertson of the Duck Dynasty fame has coined the phrase “happy happy happy”  But is this taught in the bible?  Does God want us to just be happy?  As I was studying this afternoon I ran across what Paul wrote to the Philippians, “for I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die.  For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.  Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don’t know which is better.  I’m torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me, ²⁴ but it is better for you that I live. I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith. Then when I return to you, you will have even more reason to boast about what Christ Jesus has done for me” (1:20-26)  Let us stop and think about when this was written Paul was in Rome under house arrest not allowed to go where he wanted.  Yet he says “I will always be bold for Christ.”  This life I live is not about me but about Christ, not about whether I am happy but I’m I living for Christ.

          If we are living for Christ then we are attaining joy, something so much better than happiness, we are going to have the eternal joy that comes from knowing God.  The Psalmist wrote “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness….Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure  and kept myself from doing wrong? … When I thought how to understand this,  It was  too painful for me— Until I went into the sanctuary of God”(Ps 73:3, 13, 16-17) I like how Francis Chan explains this piece of scripture.  “It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others’. But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.”  What God desires for us is that we be happy but that we find the joy in life that only he can provide us.

         Chan, Francis (2010-01-01). Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God (p. 42). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.