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You are happy when you are Sad

by Louisa Hall  
8/10/2009 / Christian Living

To start off with, I have a question. What makes you happy?

Jesus had his own theory on happiness. We find it in Matt 5:3-12. This passage is called the Beatitudes and they are some of Jesus' most famous sayings. Notice that they are explaining just how a person can be blessed, however in Greek, the word blessed or Makarios, basically means to be "happy.". Does this person that Jesus is describing sound happy to you? Think about the second Beatitude, blessed are those who mourn. Jesus is essentially saying, you are happy when you are sad. I think we are all asking, how does this work?

But before we delve into that, let me ask you: which Beatitudes do you feel like you can relate to; that you feel would really benefit a person and make them happier if they put them into practice?

It is easy to see how someone who is filled with righteousness or right living is a happier person. The best example of what a righteous person looks like I believe is found in Galatians 5:22. This person is going to be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Wouldn't we all like to be like that? It makes sense to really hunger and thirst after desire more of the Holy Spirit who gives us this righteousness. The next Beatitude, blessed are the merciful, also makes sense to us. As Christians, we value mercy and we want to become more like God who is full of mercy.

When I think people in need of mercy I remember a little five year orphan girl in Africa. Ironically her name is Mercy. Her parents died of Typhoid, a disease that we have a vaccination against here in the West. If we had had mercy on her, providing her country with a Typhoid vaccination, we could have saved her and countless others a lifetime of heartache and we definitely would have made a lot of people very happy.

We also value purity as Christians. Jesus calls us to become like Him who is both perfect and pure. I think possibly the best example of someone pure in heart is a child. A child is simple, humble, open and honest and lives completely out of the purity of their hearts. When we live like this, Jesus explains, we will have the pleasure of seeing God, of truly knowing Him, which I would say is the ultimate goal of the Christian walk.

What about Peacemakers? One of the most famous slogans over the centuries has been "world peace." A beautiful example of someone who made peace in the Bible was Joseph, who after being sold into slavery by his twelve brothers, forgave them wholeheartedly years later and even saved them from a famine. The Bible even says that "he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept.and he kissed all his brothers and wept over them." You can read this beautiful story of reconciliation for yourselves it is found in Genesis 37 to 46. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, to forgive and be reconciled with those who we have hurt or those who have hurt us. Is there anyone that you need to forgive or be reconciled with?

So we agree with Jesus that when a person is righteous, when they grow in mercy and purity and when they make peace with others they will be happier personally and the world will be also be happier place. But what about the other Beatitudes? They are a little trickier. Lets look at the first Beatitude, Happy are those who are poor in Spirit. One of the best ways to understand this is to look back into the Old Testament. In Isaiah 57:15 it explains that God "lives in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit (poor in spirit)." God, Himself, the Creator of the Universe is excited about dwelling with someone who is empty of themself, humble and desperately in need of Him. Aren't we all desperately in need for more of God?

What are some of the reasons that we often don't or won't recognise our desperate need for God?

Being desperate isn't a particularly comfortable feeling and even getting to a place where we recognise our need for God is often an uncomfortable and unhappy journey. How could it possibly make us happy? The next Beatitude also really messes with our thinking: Blessed is the person who mourns. Psalm 51:17 explains that "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." It makes so little sense to us. We spend so much time and effort trying to avoid broken hearts, how could it possibly make us happy to be desperate and humble and broken hearted?

The reason is this: in and of itself, being needy and desperate and broken-hearted is not a blessing. However, when we are needy and desperate for God and broken-hearted over the little we and world have of God and over our sin which separates us from God, these attitudes become a blessing to us. How? Because it is only when we are hungry that we are filled, it is only when we cry out that we are heard and it is only when we are emptied of ourselves that we are ready to be full of God. And we know that to be filled with God is happiness beyond all happiness's and reaps eternal and not merely earthly rewards.

It is the last Beatitude; however, that really blows it out of the water. Blessed are you "when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Then to top it off, Jesus says "rejoice and be glad," when this happens. I don't know about you, but I think someone would find that really annoying if they were torturing you and insulting you and trying to break your spirit and all you could do was "rejoice and be glad." The point Jesus is so powerfully making here is that, in the end those who are God's side, win. It doesn't matter what people do or say to us as Christians on Earth, because God has the last say. He is saying that even if you give up the most precious thing that you have for Him, your life, you won't lose anything because your reward will be great in Heaven.

The last three Beatitudes we discussed are so radical. They almost always take us beyond ourselves and over the edge to a place where only faith in God can carry us. However it is only in this place, where we are empty of ourselves, empty of our petty love of temporal earthly things that we can be filled God and just begin to comprehend what full, real true, happiness and blessedness is.

Jesus not only promises Blessedness or Happiness as we put the Beatitudes into practice. He also promises to give us the Kingdom of God. He promises to comfort us, He promises mercy, eyes to see God, to call us the sons and daughters of God and finally He promises us rewards in heaven. One of the difficulties is that we don't fully understand just exactly how amazing these gifts are just yet. But I challenge you to take God on, take Him at His word and step out beyond yourself. Then we will meet up in Heaven and stand in awe at what God has done through you and myself.

Lets think back to the things that you decided made you happy at the beginning of the article. Now that we have gone through Jesus ideas on happiness, how does your ideas compare with His?

I am a bible college student in Brisbane Australia.

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