It’s likely not marked on your calendar, and you’ve probably never heard of it—but March 20 is the International Day of Happiness. As I researched my book Happiness, I began to wonder: what would it look like if evangelical churches led the way in annually participating, by celebrating the good news of happiness that Isaiah 52:7 talks about?

In this interview with Faithlife's Daniel Di Bartolo, Randy Alcorn talks about joy and happiness. He talks about the misconceived notion that joy is more Biblical than happiness. 

Consider Isaiah 52:7, which says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness.” Paul clearly refers to Isaiah 52:7 in Romans 10:15 as he references the gospel, demonstrating this “good news of happiness” is in fact nothing else but the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ.

I think joy in eternity will be the same sort of thing we know as joy and happiness and delight right now. But it will be purified and absolute in the sense that, as Paul says, right now we are “sorrowful yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

What if we as believers were known as the people of celebration and gladness, and the church as the place of feasting?

Spence and Tara Hackney share their story on selling their house, the process of buying a new one and how Randy Alcorn's book The Treasure Principle impacted their lives.

Randy Alcorn addresses the staff of Faithlife, and shares about God's offer of happiness and joy in Jesus Christ.

William Whitaker, who was a Puritan and a Cambridge University professor in the 16th century, spoke of “sinning away that happiness wherein we were created.” And that is a very graphic picture not only of what Adam and Eve did, but also what we who are conceived as sinners and have a sin nature do

I think the first thing we need to realize is that historically there was no such distinction in the church and in the English language. Simply look up joy in a secular dictionary, say Webster’s Dictionary, and you’ll see it defined as happiness and, happiness defined as joy. They are synonyms with overlapping meanings.