Resources by Topic: Happiness

Though all of us, if asked, might say that we don’t have any more right to a perfect and pain-free life than the next person, in our own hearts and minds, we tend to believe that we do. So, when forced to suffer, even mature believers can feel driven to question God’s motives.

This issue includes: Gospel-Driven Hospitality by Revive Our Hearts Ministry, Exploring the Happiness of Jesus by Randy Alcorn, Having a Jesus Heart for Children by Kelly Needham, and more.

We hope you enjoy this holiday edition of our magazine, encouraging you to seek Christ-honoring happiness this Christmas season!

One of my great heroes is William Wilberforce. He is credited as the primary human agent to bring about the end of slavery in England. He wrote, “The gospel freely admitted makes a man happy. It gives him peace with God, and makes him happy in God.”

I’ve read books on happiness stressing that we must be happy right here and now, living in the moment, because this is our one and only chance. How sad! Thankfully, God says otherwise.

To be holy is to see God as He is and to become like Him, covered in Christ’s righteousness. And since God’s nature is to be happy, the more like Him we become in our sanctification, the happier we will be.

An idol is anything we praise, celebrate, fixate on, and look to for help that’s not the true God. That covers a lot of ground. Idolatry isn’t just wrong—it fails miserably in bringing the lasting happiness it promises.

To be godly is to resemble God. If God were unhappy, we’d need to pursue unhappiness, which sounds as fun as cultivating an appetite for gravel. Fortunately, however, God doesn’t condemn or merely tolerate our desire to be happy; He gave us that longing.

It’s not too late to convey this message of Christ-centered happiness to our children and grandchildren and churches. Since they long for happiness, it’s a message they desperately need to hear. 

As part of a study related to my Happiness book, I recorded a series of videos, 10 to 20 minutes each, on the subject of happiness in Christ. I’ll be sharing all six videos, one at a time over the course of the next few blogs. Here’s the first video in the series, titled, “Happiness vs Joy: The Conflict.”

Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, preached a prototype gospel message, asserting three times the happiness of the one who is at the center of the gospel—Jesus. Yet how many people, unbelievers and believers alike, have ever heard a modern gospel message that makes this point? 

Randy Alcorn filmed six 15- to 20-minute teaching sessions to be used in conjunction with the Happiness Bible Study Book.

The better I know Jesus, the more I see Him all around me—in people, animals, places, and objects. But if I hadn’t studied His Word and reflected on His character over the years, I wouldn’t have known what to look for.

Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different—that God wants us happy because He’s happy!