If there’s anything we Christians are supposed to be, it’s happy people.1 We’ve got more to be happy about than anybody else in the world. We have the happy love of Jesus, who takes all of our burdens, carries all of our cares, and lightens all of our sorrows. Jesus says that His yoke is easy and His burden is light .2
If you’re finding His yoke too heavy to bear, then maybe you’re not “casting all your care upon Him.”3 Maybe you’re trying to carry too much and pull too hard on your own, instead of letting God do it by His power, His love, His grace, and His strength. He says, “Without Me you can do nothing.”4 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you.”5
When I was a young man, a missionary who had evangelized a country that was closed to the Gospel stayed with my family for a while. As he helped wash the dinner dishes one evening, I marveled at his humility, grace, and happy, cheerful spirit. Here was a man who had done great things for the Lord, humbly washing dishes with me.
Since I was planning to become a missionary myself, I asked a question that I expected he, of all people, would know the answer to: What quality do you think a missionary needs the most? I expected some solemn and profound answer from his vast wealth of wisdom and experience, so you can imagine my surprise when he paused, hands in sink, looked at me with a smile, and said, “A sense of humor—the ability to laugh when you feel like crying.”
So let’s always be able to smile through our tears. A ray of sunshine is even more beautiful in the midst of rain. Let’s have a little more sunshine and laughter, and not so much gloom and doom. The world knows enough hell; let’s show them a little more heaven. “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven.”6 As the American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox wrote, “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone. For the sad old Earth must borrow its mirth, but has troubles enough of its own.”7
Let’s be happy! Don’t be gloomy and sullen, lest you be like old Jenny the mule. After a Sunday of constantly hearing “no” and “don’t” at the farm of his religiously strict grandfather, poor little Johnny wandered wistfully out to the barnyard and stroked Jenny’s long nose. “Dear Jenny, you must be awfully religious,” he said, “because you have such a long face—just like Grandfather’s!” That’s some people’s idea of religion. Don’t let it be yours!
* * *
Holy happiness
God is not a sad God; He’s a happy God who wants us to be happy too. The Bible says, “Happy are the people whose God is the Lord.”8 This is the whole point of salvation, to relieve us of suffering, pain, and death. God is not a monster who’s trying to deny you everything and make you miserable. He loves life and created it for your pleasure. He made this beautiful world as a home for you to live in and enjoy, and He gave you a wonderful body, mind, and heart with which to enjoy it. He even promises you the desires of your heart when you delight yourself in Him.9—David Brandt Berg
I have a happy religion. I believe with all my heart that Jesus loves us and wants us to be happy. Not only that, but He wants us to genuinely enjoy ourselves, and He wants to enjoy our lives along with us. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”10 His liberating truth and the freedom of His Spirit allow us to enjoy many of the pleasures of life while remaining close to Him. We don’t have to choose between happiness and pleasing the Lord. We can have both!—Maria Fontaine
Podcast
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
1. Psalm 146:5
2. Matthew 11:28–30
3. 1 Peter 5:7
4. John 15:5
5. Psalm 55:22
6. Matthew 5:12
7. "Solitude," first published in 1883
8. Psalm 144:15
9. Psalm 37:4
10. 2 Corinthians 3:17