True-ish: As Long as You're Happy!

This is the 2nd post of our true-ish series. Scroll down to read week 1, What is Truth?

Psalm 97:12 says to rejoice in the Lord. We have this idea that if God wants me happy and I'm not happy, then God failed. The pursuit of happiness seems right. It is true-ish. The true-ish path parallels truth for awhile, but then it ends up a million miles away from truth. "There is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death." (Prov 14:12) God's plan is not to make you happy. We use God to serve us and like a vending machine, we tell him what we want and we expect him to spit it out. That's a true-ish mindset.

We think, if God wants me happy and I'm not happy, then God failed or He doesn't exist. We seek what God can do for us instead of seeking God. We feel entitled to be happy. This pursuit of happiness seems right, but we're about to see how that can lead down the wrong path. Watch how that leads down a path of thinking that becomes so far from the truth......

1. Without a belief in absolute truth (relativism - the assumption that there is no such thing as absolute truth), truth is defined by whatever makes me happy. This leads to subjectivism - the idea that I have the right to determine what is right and wrong, without submitting my judgment to any authority outside myself.

2. When the bottom line is my happiness, happiness becomes the standard by which I judge my actions. For example, if I'm not happy in my marriage, then I'll just leave and find happiness elsewhere.

3. Whatever makes me happy must be right.

4. Since God wants me happy, anything that doesn't make me happy must be bad.

5. Discomfort, delay, risk, suffering, inconveniences, and obstacles can't be God's will. Difficulty is not God's will.

We logically come to these false conclusions when we go down this path of thinking, which leads us to #6:

6. Without knowing it, I begin to worship the false gods of comfort, money, pleasure, and things.

Here's the truth: God doesn't want you happy.

When it causes you to do something wrong or unwise, God doesn't want you happy. Just like we don't have a goal of our children always being happy, neither does God for us. Just because eating chocolate for dinner makes our kids happy, that doesn't mean we want that for them. 1 Peter 1:15 says to be holy in all you do. It doesn't say to be happy in all you do. Our happiness doesn't trump holiness.

7. Since I'm not happy, I'm allowed to do something that otherwise would be wrong. An example of this would be that an unwanted pregnancy occurs, you're not happy, so you should be allowed to get an abortion, which is wrong.

When it is only based on things in this world, God doesn't want you happy. Our world view is that better possessions + peaceful circumstances + thrilling experiences + the right relationships + the perfect appearance = happiness. That's the American dream, right? Our actions speak to this a lot of times. Our decisions are often based on these things. God is not anti-money. He just doesn't want money to have you. We settle for a counterfeit happiness.

God doesn't want you happy, He wants you BLESSED. There's a difference between happy and blessed. The word for blessed is makarios, which means supremely blessed or more than happy. Happiness is based on environment. Happiness changes depending on what's going on around you. But joy/blessing is like a thermostat. It doesn't matter what happens around you, real joy stays no matter what happens. "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands." (Ps 112:1)

Here's an example that our Pastor told us that he heard Max Lucado give once:
Would a fish be happy on a beach? Would a fish be happy if he was lying on the sand on a beach? It's a nice beach. What if you stack money all around him and lots of pretty things? Then will he be happy? NO! He's still going to die out there on that beach. Why? Because he is not made for the beach.

In the same way the fish isn't made for the beach, we aren't made for this world. That's why we can't find happiness in it. It's not supposed to be like Heaven. We were created for eternity, for more! All of the things of this world are temporary. We are a fish on the beach. We need to lower our expectations of this world. What do we expect these things (possessions, experiences, relationships, perfect appearance) to deliver? We have to stop justifying unwise things for our happiness. We need to get over ourselves. It's not about us! God's goal is not about your happiness. It's about Him, not you.

The closer you get to God, the less desire and pull these worldly things will have. The opposite is true too. The more you desire those things, the farther away you will get from God. You won't find happiness in this world, but you will find it in a man. Jesus rescued us and saved us, not to make us happy. He is the only lasting thing you'll find in this world. He will never disappoint you. People will, but He won't. He became unhappy momentarily, so we could experience real joy forever. Stop looking for the beach!