Pastor's Corner; Rev. Mark Squire

Wait. What? God Doesn’t want me to be happy?!?!

Okay, perhaps that was a bit of an overstatement. Allow me to explain.

Three ideas dwell at the forefront of our cultural psyche. What are they? Life. Liberty. The Pursuit of Happiness. They are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, said to be "self-evident" rights "endowed by the Creator." Not only are these ideas foundational to the American way of thinking, but they are oftentimes assumed in popular American Christianity.

Whole books could be written about any one of the three, but let's focus our short time on the pursuit of happiness. It's a never-ending pursuit branded into our way of life. Parents tell their children, "It doesn't matter to me how you live your life. I just want you to be happy." In bookstores, you'll find yourself drowning in a sea of self-help books, all promising to help you find happiness. Even in religious bookstores, you'll find books guaranteeing your "best life now" or "how to be happier 7 days a week." After all, the pursuit of happiness is self-evidently endowed by God.

Is this what God actually promises us? In America, happiness means freedom from oppression, freedom from hardship, or freedom to live comfortably. However, what God promises in the Scriptures is, like it or not, quite the opposite. In fact, if you read through the New Testament, you'll quickly get a sense of what Christians can expect: suffering. For example, take a few minutes to read through 1 Peter. Though the letter is only five chapters long, words meaning "suffering" or "sorrow" occur about 20 times! Peter writes, "If, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps" (2:20-21). You have been called to suffer.

But, doesn't God want me to be happy? Well, not in the sense that the world would have it. God gives joy that flows from faithfulness and hope. "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (Romans 5:3-4). Being faithful can mean suffering, especially because you've denied yourself for someone else's benefit. How does the joy come? "[Look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted" (Hebrews 12:2-3). Though we endure suffering in this life, Jesus endured the cross that we might obtain everlasting life and peace-free from suffering-when he comes again. "Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed" (1 Peter 4:13). That's true joy worth pursuing!