Called to be happy?

A very popular saying among Christians is, "God wants us to be happy." Is this a true statement? If it is, then why did Yeshua say that families would turn against each other? Why does the Bible say we must take up our cross and bear it? Where does the Bible say that God wants us to be happy?

What does the Bible say? "Be happy as I am happy?" No, it says, "Be HOLY as I am HOLY." (emphasis mine) The Bible talks about being happy less than it does about being holy. The one time Yeshua used the word happy, it could also have been translated as blessed. John 13:17 (The Scriptures)17“If you know these teachings, blessed are you if you do them.

Am I saying we should be miserable? Heaven forbid! But there is something greater than happiness that we should have. We should have joy. Happiness depends on circumstances, but joy does not. Happiness is stimulated by things and people around us. Joy is stimulated by having our eyes to the things of Heaven.

John 15:11-12 11“These words I have spoken to you, so that My joy might be in you, and that your joy might be complete. 12“This is My command, that you love one another, as I have loved you.

That speaks of joy from the Lord. How do we get this joy? Listen to the words of Yeshua, and follow His commands.

John 17:13 13“And now I come to You. And I speak these words in the world, so that they have My joy completed in them.

Again, we see a correlation between the words of Yeshua and joy.

It is much greater that we follow the words and example of Yeshua, that we may have everlasting joy, than we follow our earthly whims that we may feel the brief happiness. That is not to say that earthly pleasure is bad, but we must look at it as a foretaste of what is to come.