Love and Happiness
“You have turned my mourning into dancing;”
C. S. Lewis said in one occasion:
“God does not want us to be happy. God wants us to love him.”
It is certain that love is one of God’s first and most important commandments. If we would love one another, would we be happy? The answer to this question is, yes. I strongly believe that God desires for us to be happy, however, happiness is secondary to love, faith and the hope that we have in Christ. Real happiness or joy is one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23) and it is the by-product of love, faith and hope.
We can find true joy in the love that God has poured over us. Knowing that God and our brothers and sisters in the Lord love us is like a ray of light in the midst of a stormy night. Our joy, however, does not only proceed from a love that’s received, but it also comes when we love others with the love of Christ.
Joy is also a by-product of faith, because through faith we are able to overcome the attacks of the enemy from beginning to end. A strong and powerful faith in the Lord will help us to “dance,” even when there is no music.
Finally, joy or real happiness comes from our hope in Christ, because whoever has hope in the glorious future that God has promised us, will be happy now and forever in the kingdom of our Lord!
God has changed our lament into song, and our mourning into dancing. The happiness that we now enjoy is like a lament, when we compare it to the eternal joy that awaits us in heaven.
