I Have a Right to Be Happy

The Modern Cry: I Have a Right to Be Happy

Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

A SELFISH DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS IS AS SINFUL as any other selfish desire because its root is in the flesh which can never have any standing before God!

People are coming more and more to excuse every sort of wrongdoing on the grounds that they are “just trying to secure a little happiness!” That is the hedonistic philosophy of old Grecian days misunderstood and applied to everyday living in the twentieth century.

It destroys all nobility of character and makes milksops of all who consciously or unconsciously adopt it; but it has become quite the popular creed of the masses.

Now I submit that the whole hectic scramble after happiness is an evil as certainly as is the scramble after money or fame or success. It springs out of a vast misunderstanding of ourselves and of our true moral state.

The man who really knows himself can never believe in his right to be happy. A little glimpse of his own heart will disillusion him immediately so that he is more likely to turn on himself and own God’s sentence against him to be just.

The doctrine of man’s inalienable right to happiness is anti-God and anti-Christ, and its wide acceptance by society tells us a lot about that same society. No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. Seeking fully to know and do the will of God, he leaves to Christ the matter of how happy he should be!

A.W. Tozer

Maybe someone should write a letter to Tozer that we have the right to be Miserable and call it
The Modern Cry: I Have a Right to Be Sad.

A SELFISH DESIRE FOR MISERABLE IS AS SINFUL.

Personally I don't care what Tozer says or really any Minister when it come to my happiness, I choose to be Happy because the Bible I am reading says:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).
I don't care for the dried up bones seen to many folks with them. I always look at things this way mans opinions are just that opinions, and God opinions or ways are facts, so do we go with opinions are facts? I'll choose facts.

Also I don't really believe that you have to be wrongdoing to be happy you can be happy doing right as I do with little effort.

Maybe someone should write a letter to Tozer

He died in 1963 :-)

Did you read the article?

Personally I don't care what Tozer says or really any Minister when it come to my happiness, I choose to be Happy because the Bible I am reading says:"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).
I don't care for the dried up bones seen to many folks with them. I always look at things this way mans opinions are just that opinions, and God opinions or ways are facts, so do we go with opinions are facts? I'll choose facts.

Also I don't really believe that you have to be wrongdoing to be happy you can be happy doing right as I do with little effort.

He does not say you cannot be happy or that it is wrong to experience happiness.

He is talking about the doctrine of man’s inalienable right to happiness.

tjservant wrote:
He does not say you cannot be happy or that it is wrong to experience happiness.

He is talking about the doctrine of man’s inalienable right to happiness.

This is really kind of confusing so I can be happy and and choose to experience happiness, but I don't have a right to? :-?

Happy is the one who seeks and embraces true wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 3:13)“Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scoffers; but his delight is in the law of Jehovah; and on his law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).

Happy is he who has a healthy respect for [not slavish fear of] God’s expectations; on the contrary, the one who hardens his heart falls into mischief (Proverbs 28:14).

tjservant wrote:

Maybe someone should write a letter to Tozer

He died in 1963 :-)

Did you read the article?

Well, I meant a letter in response to his thoughts or opinion, sorry. :-)

Great post tjservant. Hit it right on the mark.

Miccah wrote:
Great post tjservant. Hit it right on the mark.

Hit what on the mark? why don't you elaborate for us a bit? it's easy to agree without explaining why, to many of us do this, I am open to others views if they have some.

The Modern Cry: I Have a Right to Be Happy

Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Hebrews 13:5

A SELFISH DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS IS AS SINFUL as any other selfish desire because its root is in the flesh which can never have any standing before God!

People are coming more and more to excuse every sort of wrongdoing on the grounds that they are “just trying to secure a little happiness!” That is the hedonistic philosophy of old Grecian days misunderstood and applied to everyday living in the twentieth century.

It destroys all nobility of character and makes milksops of all who consciously or unconsciously adopt it; but it has become quite the popular creed of the masses.

Now I submit that the whole hectic scramble after happiness is an evil as certainly as is the scramble after money or fame or success. It springs out of a vast misunderstanding of ourselves and of our true moral state.

The man who really knows himself can never believe in his right to be happy. A little glimpse of his own heart will disillusion him immediately so that he is more likely to turn on himself and own God’s sentence against him to be just.

The doctrine of man’s inalienable right to happiness is anti-God and anti-Christ, and its wide acceptance by society tells us a lot about that same society. No man should desire to be happy who is not at the same time holy. Seeking fully to know and do the will of God, he leaves to Christ the matter of how happy he should be!

A.W. Tozer

-------------------------------------------
-- AMEN! --

MrBillPro / Anyone

Is there happiness in sin?
Can you enjoy doing sin?
This is what I believe he is talking about we seem to find it more pleasurable to get our joy through the world, but fail to see through this temperal "joy" and see the sorrow upon sorrows it adds to our life.
We find true joy in our life when we seek God's will and do God's will for every moment in our day...LIFE.

4christalone wrote:
Is there happiness in sin?
Can you enjoy doing sin?
This is what I believe he is talking about we seem to find it more pleasurable to get our joy through the world, but fail to see through this temperal "joy" and see the sorrow upon sorrows it adds to our life.
We find true joy in our life when we seek God's will and do God's will for every moment in our day...LIFE.

Now I can agree with this, thanks for your personal feedback.

[size=xx-small]Great post tjservant. Hit it right on the mark.[/size]

Yes, it sure does seem that he could preach not only to his generation but to ours. Here it seems that he shows us where we as a church are...Oh, that there were such an heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always...

This is really kind of confusing so I can be happy and and choose to experience happiness, but I don't have a right to?

I think R.C. Sproul said it well:

The Bible nowhere gives a sinful human being an absolute right or guarantee of happiness. The Bible does hold out all kinds of promises concerning the attainment of happiness, but happiness is ultimately a gift from God, a manifestation of God’s grace. If God were to deal with us in terms of rights, it would mean that he treated us strictly according to Justice. The only way we would have an inalienable right would be to say that we are so virtuous and meritorious that if God is just, he must bestow happiness upon us. That’s the very opposite of what Scripture teaches regarding our condition before God. We are guilty people before our Maker, and therefore our Maker owes us no happiness whatsoever.

In spite of the fact that God does not owe us happiness, he pours out joy, peace and happiness and blessedness in abundance to his people. I think it is perfectly legitimate for a Christian to pursue joy and contentment and the fulfillment of our humanity in everything God has made us to be, which is found in our reconciliation with God. When we are reconciled to God and living according to his will and principles, happiness is often a by-product and, even at that, a result of God’s grace and gifts. It is certainly not a demand we make upon him.

R.C. Sproul

tjservant wrote:
I think R.C. Sproul said it well.

I agree! "and" with a whole lot sweeter spirit than Tozer said it.

MrBillPro

Hit what on the mark? why don't you elaborate for us a bit? it's easy to agree without explaining why, to many of us do this, I am open to others views if they have some.

No problem.

Christianity in America, Canada and most 1st world states/nations is a complete farce. Who did the Lord send to us as examples to follow and live like? Jesus, His disciple, the apostles, Paul and His Church.

ALL of these folks were persecuted to some degree and a lot of them killed for the faith. These people were [i]happy[/i] being joyful for the Lord. This happiness is not from worldly happiness, but a true joyfulness in the Lord Jesus. This joyfulness is seen time after time during persecution and tribulation throughout the bible.

Happy? How much worldly happiness did Paul have? How much worldly happiness did the Church have in those days when they were being killed for believing and not denying the name of Jesus? How happy were the disciple and apostals while being driven from town to town. How happy was Jesus on the cross?

Churches all over the world after the death of Jesus have been joyful in thier persecution and tribulation.

Paul speaks about rejoicing in our sufferings. How many of these found [i]joy[/i] and rejoiced during these periods of trial, suffering and tribulation?

Happiness is never about being happy in the world, but it is being joyful in the Cross. None of us deserve anything from the Lord but eternal damniation where the entire wrath of God should be placed on us. Only through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ are any of us saved.

You know what pleases God?

[u][b]Isaiah 53:10 (NASB)[/b][/u]

"But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief..."

[u]It pleased YHWH to crush Him.[/u] It did not please God to give Him peace and security... It pleased Him to crush Him.

All throughout the bible you will see those being pleased in suffering and rejoicing in tribulation. Why? Because they want to suffer? Because they want to be crushed? Because they like pain? No. The were pleased in their suffering because it pleases the Father.

Once we truly understand this, how can we not be disgusted and ashamed of what we see in the worldliness of the "happy" modern church?

I am so disgusted with myself for being quite about this for as long as I have been. I repent of this. I pray mercy upon us and that the Lord would allow for a true awakening of His body, in His way. Let the sleepers awaken Lord.

Forgive us Lord for killing Your Church.

I remember a quote from somewhere but cant seem to recall all the words.

Goes like this.....We hold these truths to be self evident,that all men are created equal,and are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights......life ,liberty, and the pursuit of sadness.

sad seems so oxymoronic to the term christian.

David

Churches all over the world after the death of Jesus have been joyful in thier persecution and tribulation.

Paul speaks about rejoicing in our sufferings. How many of these found joy and rejoiced during these periods of trial, suffering and tribulation?

Happiness is never about being happy in the world, but it is being joyful in the Cross. None of us deserve anything from the Lord but eternal damniation where the entire wrath of God should be placed on us. Only through the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ are any of us saved.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Amen, could we find in our "christian church" today men who would willingly die for Jesus because he gave ALL for us. do we give some for him? or all? My Prayer for myself is to be able to say in ALL honosty "I love the Lord Jesus with ALL of my heart" being led by his spirit not my will, following His guidance not what I perceive to be right, but willing to suffer for his leading, yea willing to die for his Word.

[size=xx-small] [/size]All throughout the bible you will see those being pleased in suffering and rejoicing in tribulation. Why? Because they want to suffer? Because they want to be crushed? Because they like pain? No. The were pleased in their suffering because it pleases the Father.

Once we truly understand this, how can we not be disgusted and ashamed of what we see in the worldliness of the "happy" modern church?

Heb 11:26 Moses..esteeming the reproch of Christ greater riches than that of Egypt:...

A SELFISH DESIRE FOR HAPPINESS IS AS SINFUL as any other selfish desire because its root is in the flesh which can never have any standing before God!

Amen. It's worth noting that a selfish desire to be miserable and unhappy is also sinful!

MC

Perhaps it should be noted that "joy" and "happiness" are not the same. Happiness is predicated upon happenstance: "If I [i]happen[/i] to win the lottery, I will be happy!" Happiness as a feeling is transitory, manipulative, surface-deep. The whole world seeks the feeling of "happiness" and they seek it through money, self-acclaim, sexual gratification, victory in sports, the achievement of various goals, and through all different kinds of venues that, when fulfilled, trigger a chemical reaction in their brains that leads to a sensation of "happiness" and "pleasure" - the two go hand-in-hand.

The Christian's joy, however, is at the spiritual level, transcending soul, and it is the unchanging bedrock unaffected by changes in situations; It is predicated upon knowing who you are in Christ, it is being content in the Lord in any and in all situations. Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians in jail, and it is an epistle of joy. Prisons are not "happy" places; it is absurd to be "happy" in prison - unless it was your goal all along to get locked up. I don't think Paul wanted to go to jail, and he probably wasn't too happy about being wrenched from his missionary work and incarcerated in a dank, smelly, filthy dungeon. Ah, but he was [i]joyous[/i]!

The absence of happiness in no way altered his bedrock of joy in Christ, as happiness is merely the capping of the waves in the ocean of joy. Sometimes there is a still, but the still ocean contains the same salty water as the rough ocean.

Brother Paul

It is not Gods desire that we suffer.
Just as it is not your desire that your children suffer.

I think this is a misunderstanding of Gods character.

It is sin and rebellion that actually place us outside the protection of God

The persecution and attacks of the enemy and religious people are not to be confused as Gods great desire for us to suffer.

Joy in suffering is supernatural to man but normal to the man filled with the Holy Spirit.

Look up joy in the concordance. Over 150 verses.

It is true that the Kingdom of God trumps everything including the "seeking " of happiness,however the Good news came to man and restored us even beyond that of Adam,and I cant even remotely place Adam under a God that was joyful in Adams suffering.

Just as it is not joyful for us when our children suffer.

David

Quote; And there are certainly "happy" believers out there that are not indulging in sin, but have found contentment where ever God puts them in. Our true Joy is found in persecution which is our glory, to be worthy to suffer for His name sake

-------------------------------------------------
Joy is a benefit of belonging to the household of God.
It is not predicated on persecution.

Look at it this way,the absence of joy is like a warning. Something is wrong.
Wigglesworth danced in the spirit before God every morning.
Our joy level is our strength level.
"The joy of the Lord is my strength"

Amen?

4christalone wrote:
[size=xx-small] [/size]All throughout the bible you will see those being pleased in suffering and rejoicing in tribulation. Why? Because they want to suffer? Because they want to be crushed? Because they like pain? No. The were pleased in their suffering because it pleases the Father.

You know I am so glad you brought this up and I hope this don't hijack this thread I think it might still relate to this thread. Does it say somewhere in the Word that God wants his Children of "today" to really suffer, and to be crushed?
Or is this sort of like our fleshly Fathers they went to war for us so we can now enjoy the freedoms of this Country?

Did all the folks that suffered way back in the Bible do it for us so we can now enjoy the future, in others Words did they do it for a purpose "or" as an example? if they did it for a purpose it's not necessarily correct that we also suffer and be crushed, if they did the suffering as an example and the Bible says we should "follow" that example well maybe we should be downtrodden, crushed, and suffer. I think this is some good questions and I am really curious on getting some answers on this and will they really be Biblical or opinion.

Bill, To me it has to do with "Christs Suffering"
The bible specifically says we are to be partakers of the suffering of Christ.

The same persecution of the world and religion and the devil.

In fact I believe if we are NOT persecuted in some way we probably need to get a little more aggressive in our "preaching" or witness.

My issue is in the wording,"God is pleased with our suffering"

Is it his will for us to have joy/happiness.
I would have to say yes.
I think for some they think this puts God in conflict with himself.

David

psalm1 wrote:
Is it his will for us to have joy/happiness.
I would have to say yes.
I think for some they think this puts God in conflict with himself.
David

David, I am also on this line of thought, it's hard to imagine Christ's suffering on the Cross to only see his Children be Miserable, and downtrodden, I hope this is not the Christs that I serve message to the world.

John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.(KJV)

It would almost be like our earthly Fathers to die for us in war only for us to give up our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech,etc.

The question seems to be leaning to can I be a Christian and happy at the same time.Man seems to be forever chasing the elusive butterfly of happiness.
What comes to mind as you think of the words holiness or obedience ? I doubt if the words gladness or joy would be first on our list. Yet scripture teaches that joy is a byproduct of obedience. How many of us are praying asking God for blessings such as joy or happiness while bypassing the obedience.
We want the blessing without the obedience.
Trust and obey for there is no other way to be Happy in Jesus than to trust and obey.
Psalm 32:1-2
"When I die, I shall then have my greatest grief and my greatest joy - my greatest grief that I have done so little for Jesus, and my greatest joy that Jesus has done so much for me."

compliments, I do see what you are saying.

This scripture from isa. is referring to the sacrifice on the cross.(the pleasing or pleasure of the perfect sacrifice as opposed to an unacceptable sacrifice)
But not to Jesus' walk on earth.

If we could comprehend the Ideal Father /son scenario IE Isaac's attitude toward his fathers knife to his throat,we would come away with Gods concept of suffering/pleasure.

All I am saying is that there is more depth to this than we are allowing,and i believe God wants us joyfull to properly represent his kingdom,and live victoriously on the earth.
That combined with a strenght in us from above to joyfully accept "the spoiling of our goods" and the persecution of this world.
Make sense?

David

The problem lies when man seeks to find joy and happiness in material things. Man starts to worship the creation instead of the creator. Worship happiness over Godly joyfulness. Worshiping what God can/should do for us instead of giving up all and doing all we can do for Him.

When will the church stop worshiping the creation? When the creation is stripped away and all that is left is God. Then the Father will be worshipped in truth and spirit.