I don’t want to be happy. And I don’t want you to be happy either. 

Controversial? Maybe. 

The times I have been happiest have been times when things have been going really well for me. Smooth sailing, clear blue skies, things are just working. I wonder if that isn’t the point of living in Christ though. 

I wonder if we are called into something deeper; something more challenging, and at times maybe even earth-shattering. 

Happiness and joy are not the same thing. 

Happiness is contingent upon my circumstances. On things going the way I planned. On my (emotional) reactions to situations being positive.

Often happiness necessitates an inward focus, because as we start to look beyond our own lives to our families, our communities, and our world, the task of remaining happy gets a lot trickier. This is when I see the “head buried in the sand” phenomenon. In an act of self-preservation we stop noticing brokenness because it threatens our happiness. And rightly so—injustice, pain, and heartache should not make us happy. But I don’t think our task in life is to lead happy lives.

As I looked to Scripture to see what it had to say about joy, I quickly noticed a connection. More often than not when people described joy, it was in relation to being drawn nearer and nearer to God. 

Joy is the natural fruit of walking into the presence of Christ.

Joy is the outcome of being rooted in my Savior rather than my situation. 

I believe God is drawing us into communion with Him in order to rework our hearts to become more aligned with His image. And God has a fiery passion for the marginalized, the oppressed, and the “other.” He knows pain intimately, and doesn’t ever choose to run from it. So if we are living within the happiness paradigm, we might be sacrificing pieces of the abundant life He has for us.

Joy allows us to witness the worst this world has to offer and still sing His praises, because we know that He is in the long, slow, deep work of reconciliation. It enables us to cultivate hearts full of patience, justice, and peace even when things aren’t going well. 

I pray that we may find joy in the midst of pain and injustice, and not in spite of it. I pray that we will joyfully approach brokenness, knowing with full confidence that we are entering holy ground. I pray that our hardship can glorify our good, good Father, and that it draws us into messy but beautiful intimacy with Him.