Holiness and Happiness Are Not Oil and Water

Sometimes when we are really feeling righteous, there are certain statements that roll off our tongue and smash down on those whom we are confronting about sin.  One of those statements is that God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness. We poke them in the eye with this statement, hoping to make them see that if they are going to know and follow God, then they need to abandon these sinful joys and pursue holiness.  

But do we really need to pit happiness against holiness?  Are they like oil and water, constantly pushing away from each other?  I think many Christians know this is not true. But when we are careless about our language, we say things that are not as clear and helpful as they should be. 

Is there something true embedded in a statement claiming that God is more interested in our holiness than in our happiness?  Of course there is. And so, the job of discernment is to distinguish right from mostly right.  

What is mostly right is that we sinners find pleasure in sin, and we love to be exalted.  We love the physical thrills of food, sex, and art even when they are sinfully pursued. We love to see an enemy humiliated.   Things such as these make sinners happy. Is that a problem? It is a massive problem and it should be addressed. But the problem is not the happiness.  The problem is the source of happiness. Happiness is going to happen in something. We are hard-wired to pursue happiness. The only question is this; what is causing the happiness and will that thing be sufficient to continue the happiness forever.  

When we are confronting the sinner, we should not call them away from happiness.  Instead we should call them away from the destroyers of happiness. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy.  Jesus came so that we could have life abundant. (John 10:10) The happiness sinners are experiencing is a bubble that is about to pop.  It is pleasure with an expiration date. (Heb. 11:25) There is a lie embedded in the pleasure of sin, and when it emerges so does pain and destruction.   We need to call the sinner to pleasure that is unending, to happiness that is unstoppable, and to joy that is ever increasing. Does such a thing exist? It does only in one person: the unending, unstoppable, and infinite God.  

Holiness is not the eradication of happiness.  Holiness is finding happiness in all that God is and does.  The problem with a statement that says God is more interested in our holiness than our happiness is it divides what must not be divided.  Holiness and happiness do not just go together, holiness can’t even exist without happiness. True godly holiness is when a person is separated unto God in mind, emotion, and will.  A holy person is separated from the world because he thinks like God thinks, feels like God feels, and acts like God acts. So is God happy? He is infinitely and unrelentingly happy.  God’s holiness is inextricably tied to his infinite happiness in all that he is. Therefore a holy person is a person who is happy in what makes God happy, namely God himself.  

It should be granted that a time can exist when a person is trying to put to death his cravings for sinful pleasures, and during that time it only feels like the death of happiness.  He has little to no understanding of abundant life and fullness of joy in the person of God and obedience to God’s word. It is in such moments that our original statement probably was born.  But this in-between time should not dealt with by trying to stiffen up that person’s lip. Instead, that lip needs to be turned into a kiss. The endurance we call for is not the enduring of a happiness void but the endurance of kissing someone who is a stranger.   Of course, kissing a stranger is not the happiest thing, but it is a good thing. It is? Yes. Who is this stranger that is being kissed? It is a spouse. A young and/or immature Christian starts out in an arranged marriage to Christ. God has saved you and united you to his Son.  But you know so little of him. You are used to the passionate kisses of prostitutes. Nonetheless, you are now married and you need to kiss your spouse. It is good, and the goodness of it will grow day by day. Endure the strangeness of this. Fight the impulses to go back with familiar prostitutes.  As you grow with Christ, his joys will increase. He is good and he knows how to love his beloved.

Our gospel is good news.  It is actually good. We are not calling people away from something good.  We are calling them to something that is so good it is the foundation of every other good that exists.