beef with "happy"

It is probably true that everyone has a handful of words that grind on their nerves. Or maybe it's just me.

But over the last several months a word I just cannot get around or over or past is this: HAPPY.

Happy. (Pardon me as I cringe, shiver, dry heave.)

Matt Chandler described it well in his Explicit Gospel Tour several weeks ago. He said that happiness is merely an emotion, and a fragile one at that--potentially the most trivial, least meaningful, lowliest regarded sentiment to be felt. As a nation whose mission statement culminates in "the pursuit of happiness," just under the surface we are all secretly failing. The makers of anti-depressants rake in the cash and we stumble around from high to high trying to figure out what the Jones' have that we don't, never knowing they think the same thing about us. 

Despite the claims of fairy tales and chick flicks and Taylor Swift's catchy lyrics, no one is living happily ever after. Not in this lifetime. Not in this world. And I would even go so far as to say that the more we chase happiness around, demanding that happiness be the measurement of satisfaction in every relationship, job or life circumstance we have, the more miserable we become. We are not dogs chasing our tails, we are men and women chasing a myth. Unicorns, magic pixie dust, the fountain of youth, trees that grow money--take your pick. Happy does not satisfy. It does not last. It is not real.

Just look at "The Happiest Place on Earth." An expensive celebration of all that is not real, from Disney princesses to the peace of "It's Small World After All." 

Now you can be sure that the good news is coming, but do you see the danger yet?

From the moment that forbidden fruit was tasted until now, the world we live in has been broken, spiraling deeper and further away from all that God intended us to be. You see, before the fall of man, joy abounded on the earth because of the presence of God, because He walked with man, because everything He made was as it should be. Perfection was life-giving, and yes, everyone felt happy because that was all there was to feel. 

What Adam and Eve failed to realize, however, was that their happiness, their joy, their perfection, all began and ended in their Father, their Creator, their Friend. Those bites of forbidden fruit were the search for happiness outside of what God had given, and that tendency was passed on to each of us from then to now. All of creation responded to the cosmic fissure their pursuit of happiness spawned, and nothing has been right since. Creation is broken, our hearts are broken, and nothing on earth is as it should be because God cannot share community with a people who do not want Him. 

And so God's plan was for Jesus to be broken instead, an exchange powerful enough to reverse the effects of sin when He comes again to reclaim His people. But here's the thing.

That day has not come. 

And every day between now and then, this world will self-destruct just a little bit more.

As long as we are loving Jesus, things in this world will never make for lasting happiness. There is too much here that breaks His heart for us to find enjoyment in the brokenness.

So if we are happy in this world, or if we are devoting your life to being happy, let's take a step back and be scared. Let's ruminate on our propensity to look for feelings of happiness to satisfy us in a world that cannot deliver. If happiness is my goal for this life, I am not looking for the God of the Bible. Because happiness is found only in Him, in the fullness of His presence, an inheritance that will not be fully realized on this side of eternity.

Joy in this life is entirely attainable--the product of hoping in God for all of the future fullness of life He has promised, putting all our expectation for happiness in the future reality of perfect relationship with Jesus.

And if you've made it this far, let me go ahead and say this: I don't think Jesus cares about our happiness. Our joy? Absolutely. Our satisfaction in Himself? To the death. But our happiness on earth? That just isn't what He died for. It is not worth our pursuit. He said so Himself.

"...the way is hard that leads to life..." (Matthew 7:14)

But that life is worth it and characterized by joy--"joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory". Give me that over happiness every day for the rest of eternity.