Because You Deserve to Be Happy

That was the “subject” on my email from Ulta yesterday morning. It jumped out at me. That word, “deserve”, says it all. We live in a self-gratification, self-centered, self-entitlement, and selfie world. I get it! We all want to be happy. Isn’t that the greatest goal in life? I loved Bobby Ferrin’s upbeat, reggae song, “Don’t Worry. Be Happy”. It motivated us to "Be Happy!"

We are hardwired to pursue happiness, so we pursue it, after all, as Ulta’s advertising campaign says: We deserve it!” We don’t have to look far to hear prominent cultural voices, sing and speak about how much they "deserve" their rights, their happiness, and their pleasure. "We’re all about feeling good; We’re all going to die so let’s live it up without regard to morality, being respectful of others or what the consequences of our actions might be. As long as we’re happy – that’s all that matters."

Yesterday morning, my daughter and I were having one of our phone pep talks. We need to record some of those talks because I think we could solve many of the world’s problems if the world would listen to us. We discussed the lack of morality in our world because the world thinks “I deserve happiness, at all costs!” We also talked about how well we sleep at night because of a clear conscience and how happy we are to wake up to freedom from regret of what we did yesterday.

The simple truth is: God REALLY does want His kids to be happy, just like you and I want our children to be happy. God made pleasure because He wants us to be happy. He doesn’t want us shivering in a dark corner, frightened, sad and miserable. He sincerely wants happiness in our lives and He wants to flood our days with a joy that the world can’t even begin to know or take away. This is the God of the Bible. And, no matter what you’ve heard, He’s a joyful and happy God Himself, and He loves nothing more than to make those of us who are chasing happiness to be happy.

This may sound ultra-spiritual but at the heart of Christianity, is the key to happiness. It is happiness through holiness. I can hear some saying now, “There goes Donna giving us the “Jesus Talk” again’. But, I promise you, the way to be happy is found in simple obedience to God and faith in His Son. King David said to God with evident delight AND happiness: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence, there is the fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11

It may appear that being a devoted follower of Christ means we’re floating two inches off the ground if we’re living obediently to His words. But God is infinitely happy Himself and we were made in His image, so “happy” should be our way of life; not because we “deserved it”, but because we are God’s kids so it is a part of our DNA. We can’t help ourselves. It’s because of Whose we are. Obedience to our Father is what makes us happy. Pursuing Him is what brings us freedom and joy.

This way of life allows us to enjoy the world as it is. The gift of physical enjoyment and pleasure comes from Him, not an inebriated version of ourselves or an X-rated movie or one-night-stand. The ability to realize that it’s not that we DESERVE happiness, it’s that our loving and holy Father God created happiness for us. Our hunger for happiness and pleasure are God-given instincts and when placed in the right order, as the children of our King, we never need to worry because we are on the receiving end of an abundance of His unmerited favor.