Does God really want us to be happy?

[benjammin]

Okay, I know I’ll probably get hated on for this, but sometimes I wonder if God really cares about our happiness. Not because he is a vengeful or mean God, but because he’d rather have us serve him. For example, I truly believe some people are happy being drug abusers or drunks or having promiscuous sex or any number of evil things, and would be miserable if they weren’t doing those things. Anyway, in that case wouldn’t God rather have a person be miserable, yet live a holy life in spite of the struggle with sin? I sometimes wonder this since as of now I am an unemployed 23 year old who graduated in may and nothing seems to be going right for me. Maybe God wants me to be sad so I can find my way to serve him in spite of my difficulties.

So what are your thoughts? Don’t be shy

 

[jmjconder]

Okay, I know I’ll probably get hated on for this, but sometimes I wonder if God really cares about our happiness. Not because he is a vengeful or mean God, but because he’d rather have us serve him. For example, I truly believe some people are happy being drug abusers or drunks or having promiscuous sex or any number of evil things, and would be miserable if they weren’t doing those things. Anyway, in that case wouldn’t God rather have a person be miserable, yet live a holy life in spite of the struggle with sin? I sometimes wonder this since as of now I am an unemployed 23 year old who graduated in may and nothing seems to be going right for me. Maybe God wants me to be sad so I can find my way to serve him in spite of my difficulties.

So what are your thoughts? Don’t be shy

**God is all knowing/good/merciful/powerful/loving…that leaves no room for anything other than.

People find their fill in all sorts of means…I know many of these people - drugs, alcohol, sex, video games, porn. If you see these people are they REALLY happy?

NO! I have seen these people and they have been in my life for a long time. However almost all of these are not happy by Christian standards.

Only God fills the hole in our soul…read the great Saints. Happiness is only found in a lived life growing towards union with HIM!

God desires all of us to depend on HIM 100% - and HE is a loving Father by sending stuff in our way to help us realize this.**

 

[TheDoors]

I have found, in my life, that the more passionately I love God, the more love I have for life. I believe that God loves us, and like any parent, wishes us to love Him. And like any good relationship, both find joy in that Love.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

People find their fill in all sorts of means…I know many of these people - drugs, alcohol, sex, video games, porn. If you see these people are they REALLY happy?

Just a small note; I don’t see why you included video games in that category. The others are negative because they are harmful to the soul and to the body, video game, at least in most cases, are simply an enjoyable way to spend some time. There are extremes, but the same could be said of almost any activity. for instance, I imagine that God would not like us to pray to the detriment of our physical well-being.

As for the OP, you won’t get hate for voicing a legitimate concern you’re having.

God wants us to be happy, and if a person truly embraces his laws and his Church they will find happiness. Those people who are “Happy” in those promiscuous, drug-addled lives are not experiencing true happiness but rather a lesser happiness that stems from the pleasures of the flesh. When they stop and take count of their lives, many of them will find their existence to have been empty and devoid of true meaning.

I recently graduated from college and found no work, like you; it took over a year for me to find a job. Don’t take it as a sign that God wants you to be miserable. The difficulties of this era are of human creation, not of God. That said, I took my time of unemployment to start re-dedicating myself to my faith, and when I did the troubles of my life seemed like nothing more than minor inconveniences. God doesn’t want you to be miserable, but he may be leading you to a deeper understanding of the faith.

 

[johnnyjones]

I think happiness is a result of what we do, our actions. Sometimes it’s just not enough serotonin in the brain. We are on our own with what God gave us. Christianity is about self sacrifice. You may derive some happiness from that act of giving that in turn pleases God.

Happiness is hopefully a natural outpouring of self sacrifice. I’m not sure that Gods aim is for us to be happy but for us to have a future and a hope.

 

[Iron_Donkey]

Okay, I know I’ll probably get hated on for this, but sometimes I wonder if God really cares about our happiness. Not because he is a vengeful or mean God, but because he’d rather have us serve him. For example, I truly believe some people are happy being drug abusers or drunks or having promiscuous sex or any number of evil things, and would be miserable if they weren’t doing those things. Anyway, in that case wouldn’t God rather have a person be miserable, yet live a holy life in spite of the struggle with sin? I sometimes wonder this since as of now I am an unemployed 23 year old who graduated in may and nothing seems to be going right for me. Maybe God wants me to be sad so I can find my way to serve him in spite of my difficulties.

So what are your thoughts? Don’t be shy

The glory of God is man fully alive. - St. Iranaeus.

I’ve come that you may have life, and have it to the full. - God

Fully alive. That means exactly as we were meant be, having reached our full potential, and true happiness. The problem is that drug abusers or promiscuous people are simply seeking pleasure - instant gratification. A person who repeatedly does something like this (and I imagine that most of us are that person every now and then) is like the mouse that starves to death while pressing the pleasure button over and over again, despite the fact that the food button is right next to it. It’s ultimately self destructive, it ignores at least one aspect of what it means to be human.

So yes, God wants us to be happy. But this does not mean “constantly experiencing pleasure,” but rather being perfect humans, fully realizing our potential as those created in the image and likeness of God Himself. And for this to occur, sadness may be occasionally necessary, as we are remade into what we are meant to be.

The imagery that is often used is death and rebirth - dying to sin, to the things that make us less than human, being reborn in Christ. That dying part may not always be fun.

 

[benjammin]

Thanks for the replies. I feel they were all good, but I guess I still struggle because I guess in my life I feel as if suffering is a part of it and I guess maybe I feel i’m getting my suffering now i’ll be rewarded in heaven if I persevere in faith. I guess sometimes it makes me feel better when things don’t go right as they have throughout a lot of my life

 

[Dorothy]

From the Baltimore Catechism:

Why did God make me?

God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, so I can be happy with Him forever in heaven.

He made us because He wants to share His Divine life with us! People who seek other ways of filling in the emptiness in them that was meant to be filled by God are not truly happy. They may have temporary thrills, but they are not lasting and deep,.

God is perfectly happy in Himself, in the Trinity. He created us out of love and desires that we choose Him!

 

[Drinkgasoline]

Remember Aquinas and Natural Moral Law - real and apparent goods. Those sources of happiness may appear to be real, but they are not.

Which of these do you find to be more virtuous and meaningful - partying and having sex or scholarlarly studying and acquiring knowledge?

 

[Garyjohn2]

God wants us to be obedient and in love with Him. Sometimes this means being happy, sometimes this means dealing with sadness. It is a fallacy to believe that happiness is the ultimate good in life, or the best goal. That is simply not true!

Our goal as Christians is to find joy in good times and in hard times, to accept our cross willingly and to make sacrifices out of Love…love for ourselves, love for others, and love for God.

St. Paul found joy in his suffering, for example, because he was suffering for God. God wanted him to endure some very difficult things. Does that mean he wanted Paul to be sad? No, he wanted Paul to fulfill a mission. Does that mean he wanted Paul to be happy? Not necessarily…he wanted Paul to do the work set before him. The same is true for all of us. It is our job to find the joy in life, even if that means resisting things that may make us “happy” in a selfish sort of way.

 

[johnnyjones]

God wants us to be obedient and in love with Him. Sometimes this means being happy, sometimes this means dealing with sadness. It is a fallacy to believe that happiness is the ultimate good in life, or the best goal. That is simply not true!

Our goal as Christians is to find joy in good times and in hard times, to accept our cross willingly and to make sacrifices out of Love…love for ourselves, love for others, and love for God.

St. Paul found joy in his suffering, for example, because he was suffering for God. God wanted him to endure some very difficult things. Does that mean he wanted Paul to be sad? No, he wanted Paul to fulfill a mission. Does that mean he wanted Paul to be happy? Not necessarily…he wanted Paul to do the work set before him. The same is true for all of us. It is our job to find the joy in life, even if that means resisting things that may make us “happy” in a selfish sort of way.

 

[ladymlee]

Benjammin:

I have asked the same question as you, “does God really want us to be happy,” many times, as I have struggled with bipolar disorder and depression for most of my life (I’m now 42).

I don’t believe that God created us to be happy any more than he created us to be sad or angry. However, unhappiness and hardship in life are actually opportunities that can grant us the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. As these are the same gifts that came with confirmation, I often pray to my confirmation saint in difficult times.

Also, if you reflect upon the lives of the saints and martyrs, those who are most favored by God, they had a lot of adversity–more so than the “average” person-- but they also had great blessings because they did not lose their faith. It took me a long time to realize this, but suffering and hardship in life may actually be gifts, because they can bring you closer to God, help you to gain grace and other gifts, and help you to be more empathetic and caring of fellow human beings and even animals in hardships, which puts you in a better position to love and help your neighbor and do God’s will.

Here is what I have come to believe. I believe that happiness is an emotion like any other, and as such, it is only a temporary state of feeling and being. Emotions are fleeting, but we can gain something spiritually from even negative situations and negative emotions. That is because God’s love is perfect, lasting, and unconditional. We have the free will to choose much in our life, but we must have faith in order to see hardship and unhappiness as gifts, so I often also pray for increased faith in difficult times. I think that God wants us to be content in our lives and secure in his love. I hope this helps.

 

[Seira]

For example, I truly believe some people are happy being drug abusers or drunks or having promiscuous sex or any number of evil things, and would be miserable if they weren’t doing those things.

I believe people can convince themselves they’re happy, but they’re really just lying to themselves. You honestly believe abusers/addicts are happy? Usually addicts end up that way because either there’s something genetic that makes them more suseptable or there’s something messed up that happened in their life that they resort to drugs/sex/gambling to mask the hurt. Sometimes it’s a mix of both. Not one addict I’ve ever known was happy being a addict.

 

[Dorothy]

Benjammin:

I have asked the same question as you, “does God really want us to be happy,” many times, as I have struggled with bipolar disorder and depression for most of my life (I’m now 42).

I don’t believe that God created us to be happy any more than he created us to be sad or angry. However, unhappiness and hardship in life are actually opportunities that can grant us the gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord. As these are the same gifts that came with confirmation, I often pray to my confirmation saint in difficult times.

Also, if you reflect upon the lives of the saints and martyrs, those who are most favored by God, they had a lot of adversity–more so than the “average” person-- but they also had great blessings because they did not lose their faith. It took me a long time to realize this, but suffering and hardship in life may actually be gifts, because they can bring you closer to God, help you to gain grace and other gifts, and help you to be more empathetic and caring of fellow human beings and even animals in hardships, which puts you in a better position to love and help your neighbor and do God’s will.

Here is what I have come to believe. I believe that happiness is an emotion like any other, and as such, it is only a temporary state of feeling and being. Emotions are fleeting, but we can gain something spiritually from even negative situations and negative emotions. That is because God’s love is perfect, lasting, and unconditional. We have the free will to choose much in our life, but we must have faith in order to see hardship and unhappiness as gifts, so I often also pray for increased faith in difficult times. I think that God wants us to be content in our lives and secure in his love. I hope this helps.

Great post ladymlee!

And, after this life, I hope for an eternity of happiness with the Lord. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

 

[flower_lady]

The Drug Addict

I dove into a sea of dreams
where none of them had come to be,
I swam out of reality
got tangled up in a fantasy
and drowned.

DOES THAT SOUND LIKE FUN!!!

Drug addicts don’t live in the real world. They are very irrational people. They are cowards, they take the easy way out by trying to escape reality. However even though drugs might make you feel better for a while, when the high is gone you feel worse than you did before you used and you have nothing. I have just come back to the church after being lost for almost 40 yrs. and It’s the greatest feeling I’ve had in a long, long time. God is so merciful when you put your life in his hands.I’ve been back now for about 3 yrs., and I’m struggling just like you. Many days I have to ask God for faith. I get weak and want to give up sometimes too. Wait on the Lord and you’ll see. Somebody on caf once said that God has 3 answers for us when we ask Him for something. Yes, no, or I have somethilng better in store for you. God bless you! Pray hard and hold on. Trust Him to take care of you. Brenda

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Jesus we trust in You.

 

[flower_lady]

The Drug Addict

I dove into a sea of dreams
where none of them had come to be
I swam out of reality
got tangled up in a fantasy,
and drowned.

DOES THAT SOUND LIKE FUN!!!

Drug addicts don’t live in the real world. They are very irrational people. They are cowards, they take the easy way out by trying to escape reality. However even though drugs might make you feel better for a while, when the high is gone you feel worse than you did before you used and you have nothing. I have just come back to the church after being lost for almost 40 yrs. and It’s the greatest feeling I’ve had in a long, long time. God is so merciful when you put your life in his hands.I’ve been back now for about 3 yrs., and I’m struggling just like you. Many days I have to ask God for faith. I get weak and want to give up sometimes too. Wait on the Lord and you’ll see. Somebody on caf once said that God has 3 answers for us when we ask Him for something. Yes, no, or I have somethilng better in store for you. God bless you! Pray hard and hold on. Trust Him to take care of you. Brenda

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world. Jesus we trust in You.

 

[Blinky]

The Blessed Mother said at Lourdes that happiness is not something that is promised in this life, only in the next. We all have our crosses to carry. Just hang in there!

 

[dskysmine]

The problem here is to define “happy”. Most of us feel “happy” when certain hormones are produced in our bodies, but even then the source of those hormones can be very different.
One can feel “happy” after having drugs, or “happy” after attending a Charismatical service. These are only feelings. God did not make us to “feel good”, and that is a very hard concept to grasp, but with Faith in Him, all of that suffering can actually become not so bad if you put it into His hands. Then miracles can happen. You can experience even Paradise. That’s why Love is so important. With Love, even suffering makes sense.

God bless,
D.

 

[jmjconder]

Just a small note; I don’t see why you included video games in that category. The others are negative because they are harmful to the soul and to the body, video game, at least in most cases, are simply an enjoyable way to spend some time. There are extremes, but the same could be said of almost any activity. for instance, I imagine that God would not like us to pray to the detriment of our physical well-being.

As for the OP, you won’t get hate for voicing a legitimate concern you’re having.

God wants us to be happy, and if a person truly embraces his laws and his Church they will find happiness. Those people who are “Happy” in those promiscuous, drug-addled lives are not experiencing true happiness but rather a lesser happiness that stems from the pleasures of the flesh. When they stop and take count of their lives, many of them will find their existence to have been empty and devoid of true meaning.

I recently graduated from college and found no work, like you; it took over a year for me to find a job. Don’t take it as a sign that God wants you to be miserable. The difficulties of this era are of human creation, not of God. That said, I took my time of unemployment to start re-dedicating myself to my faith, and when I did the troubles of my life seemed like nothing more than minor inconveniences. God doesn’t want you to be miserable, but he may be leading you to a deeper understanding of the faith.

**I have seen people that believe their happiness is in playing video games for hours on end. It appears as you are one that can play these games as they are meant to be. However that is not the case for many people.

I only made a reference to the present day things that people look to for happiness and which cannot fill the “happiness” hole in our souls.**

 

[Actaeon]

Okay, I know I’ll probably get hated on for this, but sometimes I wonder if God really cares about our happiness. Not because he is a vengeful or mean God, but because he’d rather have us serve him. For example, I truly believe some people are happy being drug abusers or drunks or having promiscuous sex or any number of evil things, and would be miserable if they weren’t doing those things. Anyway, in that case wouldn’t God rather have a person be miserable, yet live a holy life in spite of the struggle with sin? I sometimes wonder this since as of now I am an unemployed 23 year old who graduated in may and nothing seems to be going right for me. Maybe God wants me to be sad so I can find my way to serve him in spite of my difficulties.

So what are your thoughts? Don’t be shy

As to the general case

God does want us to be happy… but God wants us to be happy in a way that is REAL. I think you mistake the idea of pleasure with the idea of happiness. The meth addict is not happy in their lives… everything that represents the reality of true happiness is torn apart by their addictions. What they have is temporary pleasure which they get from drugs (and that’s NOT the same thing). Don’t mistake the voice of the addict (or the sinner) saying “I’m happy with my lifestyle” as the voice of reason.

True happiness is found in our rest in God… it’s more akin to what we, in modern parlance, call “contentment”. It’s not an emotional high, but rather a state of relaxation and peace in the inner soul. We happy when we rest in the Lord (and there is no better way to do that than faithful attendence at Eucharistic Liturgy!).

**As to YOUR particular case: **

God is the grower, and you are the vine. This is an apt metaphor for our lives… God lets YOU find YOUR way for a very specific reason: He desires your love and faith from your free will, as a strong and independent believer. He wants you to approach Him from a position of strength AS WELL AS humility. Are we all broken? Yes, of course… but God wants us to be whole and strong.

As such, God “prunes” us, just as a grower prunes his vines to take out the weeknesses and the flaws. Your struggles are for your growth, not to drive you under God’s thumb. Only Satan promises everything you want if you’ll only serve him… and that is because Satan’s idea of loyalty is sick dependency… not true faith and true love.

So I would urge you to look at this time in your life as a time to offer your suffering to the suffering of Christ on the Cross, but I would also look at it as a chance for you to learn, to grow, and to become stronger as human (and therefore as a servant of God).

Also, incidently, because happiness is not a temporal pleasure kind of deal, the struggling you’re in does not preclude true happiness… when you find your place in God’s plan, realize that in the end everything has a way of coming out okay, and start to put your faith in God and look to challenges as learning opportunities, the terrible weight of the stress will be lessened and you’ll find that there is even rest and contentment in God… even in the night of our struggles.