A Happy Man

Happy is the man who is always reverent,

but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.

Proverbs 28:14

I want to be happy. I think everyone wants to be happy, and I don't think there is anything wrong with desiring to be happy, or actually being happy. The problem is with the route people take to get happy.

Some people find happiness in pleasure, in recreation, in possessions. Some people find their happiness in their accomplishments or accolades. But the Word of God teaches us that true happiness is found in becoming and being like Jesus Christ. The great Sermon on the Mount, which begins with the beatitudes that read like this: "Blessed is the man..." should really be understood to mean "Happy is the man." Happy is the man who is pure, who is holy, who is hungry for righteousness, who is peace loving and meek. Happiness is about our relationship with God.

Having a reverence (and a healthy fear, as I've come back to all month long) for God is the source of our happiness. Happy is the man who is always reverent, who always honors God, who always lives to please God. Happy is the man whose focus is upon worshiping God and living for God. Happy is that man!

But when we harden our hearts against God, refusing to do what is right and live the way that is right, when we rebel, we bring about our own calamity, and eventually destruction. And we do so under the deception that we will be happier doing what we want to do rather than doing what God wants us to do.

Friend, let me tell you--you will never be happier than when you are doing what God wants you to do.