Is happiness a gift from God? Is there a spiritual difference between joy and happiness? What does the Bible say about being happy and whether God is happy?

Bible Gateway interviewed Lisa Harper (@lisadharper) about her book, The Sacrament of Happy: What a Smiling God Brings to a Wounded World (B&H Books, 2017).

Tell us about the title of this book and why you refer to happiness as a sacrament.

Lisa Harper: The general definition of sacrament is “a visible sign of inward grace.” In communities of faith, it most often refers to holy communion or the Eucharist. In the broadest understanding, however, a sacrament is a gift bestowed by God and in that case, “happiness” is absolutely a sacrament—a visible, sometimes even audible—sign of inward grace!

What are misconceptions many Christians have about happiness?

Lisa Harper: 1) That happiness is a far less “spiritual” emotion than joy, so it’s best to jettison happiness like a set of arm floaties once you begin swimming in the deep waters of intimacy with God. 2) That happiness is based on our circumstances—on “happenstance”—instead of a relationship with Jesus. 3) That happiness means the absence of sadness.

Does God exhibit the trait of being happy?

Lisa Harper: When I first started searching the Scriptures in an attempt to answer the question “Is God happy?” with theological surety, I was stunned by what I found and wondered how in the world I’d waded through these passages for decades and completely missed the gleaming gold lying just beneath the surface. For instance, in the English Standard Version Bible, 1 Timothy 1:11 reads like this: “…in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (emphasis mine).

The word gospel in the original Greek text is euangelion, which literally translated means good news (The Strongest Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, #2098), and the word blessed is the most common scriptural translation of the Greek word makarios, which also means happy or fortunate. Therefore, it would be just as accurate to translate 1 Timothy 1:11 like this: …in accordance with the good news of the glory of the happy God with which I have been entrusted.

In his marvelous classic, The Pleasures of God, pastor and theologian John Piper expounds on apostle Paul’s use of “happy” in this pastoral letter: “It was inconceivable to the apostle Paul that God could be denied infinite joy and still be all-glorious. To be infinitely glorious was to be infinitely happy. He used the phrase, ‘the glory of the happy God,’ because it is a glorious thing for God to be as happy as he is. God’s glory consists much in the fact that he is happy beyond our wildest imagination” (p. 26).

Is joy the more spiritual attribute a Christian should have or is there no difference between joy and happiness?

Lisa Harper: When I first began wrestling with the idea that happy and joy are closely related, I felt like I was being naughty—like running with biblical scissors or playing with scriptural matches. I mean, holy or faithful are mainstays of church vernacular and perennial worship lyric favorites, so they’re obviously on the approved behavior list for believers. And pious actually sounds spiritual—like some advanced state of Christlikeness only possible with lots of straining and grimacing, akin to a master yoga pose (but without all the Eastern mysticism or questionable workout attire, of course). But the fact that happy made God’s list of laudable behavior sounds almost too good to be true.

Thankfully, it’s not.

A deep and thorough perusal of the original Hebrew and Greek texts of Holy Scripture reveals that joy and happiness are actually more like fraternal twins than distant cousins. However, because I’d heard joy lauded in church while growing up and happy derided (joy was taught to be based on what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross and/or the philosophy Jesus-Others-Yourself while happy was generally disparaged as being based on our circumstances; what happens to us), I was initially shocked to discover there are actually 37 references to happy in the Old Testament and 48 in the New Testament. Plus, there are more than 2,700 passages where terms related to happy—gladness, merriment, pleasure, celebration, cheer, laughter, delight, jubilation, and feasting—are used! In fact, Psalms—the book smack-dab in the middle of the Bible and comprised of 150 Old Testament songs—literally begins with the word happy:

How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers! Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted by flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:1–3 (CSB), emphasis mine)

And the Sermon on the Mount—arguably Jesus’ most beloved message—could accurately be titled, “How to Be Happy” since it technically begins with the word happy as well:

“Happy the poor in spirit—because theirs is the reign of the heavens. Happy the mourning—because they shall be comforted. Happy the meek—because they shall inherit the land. Happy those hungering and thirsting for righteousness—because they shall be filled. Happy the kind—because they shall find kindness. Happy the clean in heart—because they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers—because they shall be called Sons of God. Happy those persecuted for righteousness’ sake—because theirs is the reign of the heavens. Happy are ye whenever they may reproach you, and may persecute, and may say any evil thing against you falsely for my sake—rejoice ye and be glad, because your reward [is] great in the heavens, for thus did they persecute the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:3–12 (YLT), emphasis mine)

Therefore, while with most translations we hear this read from begin with the term blessed—which admittedly has a more old-school, shiny wooden pew ring to it—beginning Psalm 1 with the term happy is every bit as theologically sound. Because the English transliteration of the Hebrew word in the original text of Psalm 1 is asre or Asher which can be translated either happy or blessed. In the same vein, the Beatitudes typically begin with the English word blessed, but the original Greek word blessed is translated from is makarios, which can also be translated happy or fortunate.

What does happiness look like in your own life?

Lisa Harper: It looks like a sipping sweet tea in a rocking chair on a wide front porch…under a tin roof during a Spring rainstorm…while your dog is napping at your feet and making crazy circles with one hind leg because she’s chasing bunnies in her sleep. It’s the feeling of contentment, fulfillment, and delight all rolled into one. It’s the state of being we’re blessed to enjoy and called to inhabit as God’s covenant people.

Why is it so important that we understand that happiness is a gift of God we need to enjoy?

Lisa Harper: God chose us. The King of all kings, who is perfectly content, fulfilled, and self-sustainably happy in his Trinitarian sufficiency, chooses to include us in his glorious joy.

He leaned down from glory not because he needs us but because he wants to be with us.

He picked us to be part of his good pleasure because he loves us unconditionally. We can’t earn his acceptance and affection; we can’t undermine it; and nothing—no hardship, heartbreak or even death—can separate us from it. And when believers cling to that truth—to the firm belief that God is good and God does good and God loves us no matter what our current circumstances are—it not only keeps us in perfect peace, it has the power to dispel hopelessness in the world around us.

But when we wrongfully refuse or marginalize God’s glorious gift of true happiness, we emasculate the gospel. Theologian and pastor Randy Alcorn puts it like this: “The modern evangelical antipathy to happiness backfires when it portrays Christianity as being against what people long for most.”

What is #sowhappy and what are ways you recommend to practice it?

Lisa Harper: It’s been three years since I brought Missy home from Haiti, but a portion of our hearts will always be in that country. Given the fact that we’re called to share the living hope of Jesus Christ whenever we go, I’ve been looking for tangible ways to sow hope back into my daughter’s homeland. And since the key practices of biblical happiness are to be God and others focused, we found the perfect opportunity! We started a project called “The Happy Grove,” whereby we’re investing a portion of the proceeds from The Sacrament of Happy to build and sustain a very large community garden in Neply, Haiti (Missy’s home village) that will help eradicate the debilitating malnutrition many there suffer from. For every “Happy” book ordered before June 30, 2017, B&H Publishing Group, in conjunction with MyLIFESpeaks, donated money to “The Happy Grove,” so simply by buying a paperback people literally helped sustain a life. If that doesn’t make you a little happy, you might want to get your pulse checked!

If happy is a good gift for all of God’s children, then let’s #sowhappy together.

What’s a favorite Bible passage of yours and why?

Lisa Harper: Whatever passage I’m reading at the moment usually becomes my current favorite but one of my perennial favorites is Song of Songs 4:9, which is in the Old Testament, right smack dab in the middle of the wedding scene between Solomon (the third king of Israel) and his bride, Shulamith (whom theologians concur was THE love of his colorful, polygamist life). It’s where he affectionately proclaims, “With one glance of your eyes, you captured my heart!”

In light of the fact that Scripture is Christological (Luke 24), most theologians assert that in this context Solomon is a human metaphor for Jesus—our divine bridegroom—and his leading lady is a metaphor for the bride of Christ—those of us who’ve put our faith in Jesus. So the symbolism is the King of all kings smiling at us saying, “One glance, baby. Just one glance is all it took for you to capture my heart!”

It depicts our perfect Creator Redeemer condescending to wholly and unconditionally LOVE a messy, human bride. It proves that God didn’t just send Jesus into the world to deliver us from our sin but that he also sent Jesus to redeem us because he delights in us! He’s SO not a faraway punitive king; he’s instead the up-close, accessible Lover of our soul!

What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?

Lisa Harper: I love the Bible Gateway App and use it often!

Bio: Lisa Harper is a master storyteller with a masters of Theological Studies from Covenant Seminary. She’s lauded as an engaging, hilarious communicator as well as an authentic and substantive Bible teacher. She’s been in vocational ministry for 30 years and has written 15 books and Bible study curricula, including The Sacrament of Happy, The Very Good Gospel, Relentless Love, and Believing Jesus. She says her greatest accomplishment by far is that of becoming Missy’s (her adopted daughter from Haiti) mama! They live on a hilly farmette south of Nashville, Tennessee, where they enjoy eating copious amounts of chips, queso, and guacamole. And then diving in the pool immediately afterwards instead of dutifully waiting the recommended 30 minutes.

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