I Would Rather Be Happy

I have had some strange messages left on the message machine but not as unusual as Monday when I came into the office and played a message on the machine. It was not actually a message but apparently someone called the office and let a song play that said, "I would rather be happy than right." It played a few more chords that were mostly garbled but it was the first part that could be heard clearly. The motive for the call could have been a prank, a mistake or someone really wanted to make a statement. However, the message is the foundation of what our world thrives on and lives for. The pursuit of happiness is one of the wonderful "rights" we have in our country. We have the right to be happy and whatever we desire to make us happy we can pursue. The framers of the constitution had in mind the happiness of the people based upon individual freedoms not shared in most of the world. Indeed how great it is to be part of a country where one can enjoy the right to seek happiness. Now this plea for happiness is dismissing the reality of right and wrong and even if someone is wrong but happy then they are right to expect everyone to conform to their "lifestyle" because they are happy. We demand our rights, expect our rights, fight for our rights - and so often fail to stop and ask the question, "Is it right?" Should we base our happiness on what I want regardless of whether it is right or not? Then again, as Pilate said so long ago, "What is truth?" (John 18:38).

When a man refuses to leave his wife with whom he has no right to be married (Matthew 14:4) and proclaims that God does not expect him to be unhappy he is seeking his own physical desires over the eternal truth of God's word (Matthew 19:1-9). The reason the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:17-22) refused to follow Jesus was because he would rather 'be happy than right' - and you have to wonder how that turned out for the young man. The church is constantly dealing with members who refuse to bow to the will of God because they want to be happy. The truth of the matter is very stark and very clear: God never promised happiness here. Our true happiness is not in this life but the life to come. I am not suggesting we should go about saddened, broken hearted and filled with mournful spirits. There is great joy in being a child of God. The sense of happiness that I speak is that when we look at life it is filled with disappointments, discouragements and heartache. Doing the right thing will not always bring about a joyful day. Paul wrote, "Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). So happiness can be fleeting. Often what turns the hearts of God's people away from Him is the desire to be happy no matter the cost. Life is spent as the younger son in Luke 15 who left home to "be happy" and found himself finally "unhappy." He realized (thankfully) that true happiness was being in a right relationship with his father and returned home and desired to be nothing more than a hired servant (not a lot of happiness there). We must learn from stories like the younger son that life is not about seeking our own pleasures, wants and designs.

Seeking for all the happiness on this earth will take away our desire for happiness in heaven. John promised in the Revelation that eternal life will be where "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away" (Revelation 21:4). A lot of people are trying to find that here and now. Life is filled with happiness, laugher, joy, running from pain and living life to its gusto so why go to heaven? Yet living a life of godliness will bring its measure of sorrow and the more we experience the true nature of life serving God the more we long for the eternal day when tears will be taken away. You see, most of the world is seeking heaven on earth; people of God are leaving earth for heaven.

So the song said, "I would rather be happy than right." How sad. The theme song to this generation and to the next generation is remove all barriers and have fun - whether it is right or not. Jesus Christ said to Pilate, "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice" (John 18:37). Happiness is found in the one truth (John 14:6).