Watch the video by Steve McVey below, it’s about Christian Religion Lie #85 “God Wants You To Be Happy” and my comments follow…
Sounds good doesn’t it?
But the truth is: God doesn’t just want you to be happy, he wants you to be joyous. Full of Joy.
And in God’s usual, gracious manner — He will flat out GIVE you Joy… but first…
What’s the difference between Joy and Happiness?
I covered this in another post called: Joy VS Happiness, but here’s the basic gist of it:
Happiness comes from “happenings” (your circumstances) and joy comes from within, it’s something that you possess no matter what. No matter what happens to you.
How do you get joy?
You receive and will experience joy when you understand who God is… how much He loves you… what He has done for you.
It’s an overflow of feeling unconditional love being poured out on you.
How do you do this? You talk to God, you read about God, you read about how much He loves you… how much He has done for you… how much He wants to continue doing for you — and you can’t help but feel loved.
Here’s a tip:
You could even say affirmations of truth each day to yourself like this in the mirror, out loud: “I am truly Loved by God” over and over until it FEELS right when you say it.
Why is this lie bad?
Because if you suffer from depression you’ll think you’re sinning by feeling depressed. You’ll think you’re always supposed to be happy no matter what the circumstance. You’ll think it’s your fault you’re not always the happy, bubbly, “nothing ever goes wrong” Christian you’re supposed to be.
You’ll lie to people, especially other Christians, pretending that everything is ok and you’re happy when you’re really not.
Instead, if you focus on the joy that comes from God, that comes from your relationship to God (not dependent on your circumstances) then you’ll never have to feel this way.
Joy is a “Grace Gift” from God:
Here’s something interesting I came across:
“The Greek word for ‘joy’ is chara, derived from the word charis, which is the Greek word for ‘grace.’ This is important to note, for it tells us categorically that chara is produced by charis of God.
This means ‘joy’ isn’t a human-based happiness that comes and goes…Rather, true ‘joy’ is divine in origin…it is a Spirit-given expression that flourishes best in hard times. For example, in 1 Thessalonians 1:6, the Thessalonians were under great stress due to persecution; yet in the midst of it all, they continued to experience great joy. In fact the Greek strongly implies that their supernatural joy was due to the Holy Spirit working in them. Paul even called it the “joy of the Holy Ghost.” (Sparkling Gems from the Greek, Rick Renner)
God is great isn’t He? He gives us EVERYTHING without needing to just because He IS Love. Amazing.
So don’t believe this lie anymore that God wants you to be happy — God wants to give you joy.
With Love 
Caleb
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Linda 09.12.08 at 12:17 am
Hi Caleb!
I have a slightly different take on this. This is something that I have recently come to realize and I’m still in the process of grasping it, but I wonder if understanding God’s love comes from sharing it.
The selfless love that he gives to us, I’m beginning to believe, can only be understood when we find ourselves focused outward, away from ourselves, to love another more than we love ourselves. The funny thing is though, that love does not come from us. It comes from Him. When we simply let ourselves be the conduit of His love, we can then begin to truly understand joy. What do you think?
calebo 09.12.08 at 3:33 pm
That sounds like it rings true. You definitely “Get it” that way.
Maybe it’s one of those parental type things ya know? Like how parents are always like “once you have a child you’ll understand… until then… you have no idea…” and it’s true.
I love my niece and nephew but I know it’s not like a parent loves their child for no reason, selflessly, and without fail…
But yeah I’d go as far as to say the reason most poeple are happy when they’re in love is because they’re LOVING someone else… not getting love (at least that’s true for me)
Thanks for bringing it up!
Caleb