This article is part of the I’ve Heard It Said series.
Where Does Happiness Originate?
I have heard it said “Do what makes you happy.” As a parent, I definitely hear other parents say, “I just want my kids to be happy.” This is something we really value in our current cultural context, and it’s not wrong to want to be happy. Of course being happy is a good thing, and God is the creator of happiness, and he actually did design us to be happy. So I think it’s a worthwhile goal, but we do have to think about where our happiness comes from.
If you’ve been alive very long, you know that happiness is fleeting. Life is hard. There is suffering on this side of eternity. So if our goal is to always feel good, lighthearted, positive, peppy, or whatever we think happiness is, that is going to be elusive. That is going to end pretty much as soon as our heads rise up off the pillow in the morning. So that really can’t be our ultimate goal for ourselves or for our kids.
Cultural Counterfeits
Jen Oshman
Jen Oshman casts a vision for women to reject the idols of our age and find real hope in Jesus, embracing their identity in Christ and recovering his design and purpose for their lives.
Happiness has to be rooted in something that’s eternal. Happiness has to be rooted in something that does not change—something that is a firm and permanent foundation. So what, then, are we going to be happy in? What will we disciple our kids to be happy in?
As we draw to the Lord and we remember that he is good and he’s a good creator and a kind and trustworthy and merciful, sovereign Savior, as we establish our happiness in the gospel and in the person of Jesus, then we can even be happy in our suffering.
Happiness has to be rooted in something that’s eternal.
Of course, it’s suffering that shapes and changes us. It’s suffering that strengthens our faith, that gives us fellowship with our Savior who suffered as well. Honestly, it’s suffering that we need to grow more like Christ and to be happier in Christ. It’s really counterintuitive. It’s really countercultural. It’s counter to our own flesh. We don’t want to suffer. We don’t want our kids to suffer. But if we can root ourselves in Christ, then we can be happy even in suffering. And as our circumstances change, whether life is lighthearted and peppy or it’s deep and dark, we can be happy in Christ.
I don’t know how we should rephrase that saying, but happiness is not wrong; it’s what we are happy in that matters.
Jen Oshman is the author of Cultural Counterfeits: Confronting 5 Empty Promises of Our Age and How We Were Made for So Much More.
Jen Oshman has been in women’s ministry for over two decades as a missionary and pastor’s wife on three continents. She’s the mother of four daughters, the author of Enough about Me: Find Lasting Joy in the Age of Self, and the host of All Things, a podcast about cultural events and trends. Her family currently resides in Colorado, where they planted Redemption Parker, an Acts29 church.
Popular Articles in This Series
View All
Crossway is a not-for-profit Christian ministry that exists solely for the purpose of proclaiming the gospel through publishing gospel-centered, Bible-centered content. Learn more or donate today at crossway.org/about.
English (US) · 