There was a particular minister in California, back in the 90s, who left his wife of 25 years to marry a woman of 25 years. Apparently, he confused the meaning of Proverbs 5:18, which says, "May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth," thinking he would find a fountain of blessing by rejoicing over a youthful wife.
In his own defense, he had this landmark theological defense: "God just wants me to be happy!" There you have it. As long as he was happy with his new, youthful wife, God didn't care how many oaths he shattered, how many hearts he broke or how many faiths he shook. God, apparenttly, doesn't care which path you take as long as you are deliriously happy as you skip down that path. Really? Not really!
Do you want your children to be happy? Sure! But, do you want them to pursue happiness in a way that threatens their safety? Do you want them to pursue happiness that injures everyone else in the family? Do you wantt them to pursue happiness in a way that lands them in prison? Do you just want them to be happy regardless of the consequences to them and others? Not!
I believe God wants us to be happy. He tells us to "rejoice always and again I will say rejoice! (Phil 4:4). However, that is not his primary goal for us. That goal is holiness: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" (Eph 1:4).
Care for a little math this morning? The word "holy" is used 546 times in the Bible. The word happy is used 20. Which is the bigger number? (I didn't say it would be difficult math) Why would this be? Why is holiness so much more important that happiness? Because holiness leads to godliness but happiness does not.
Seeking holiness is a selfless act of being set apart from worldliness and to godliness. Seeking happiness is a selfish act of fullness. When a person is striving after holiness, he is "seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these [other] things [that which fulfills] will be added as well" (Matt 6:33). But striving after happiness may instead land one in jail, in poverty or worse.
Gamblers enjoy gambling but not always the results. Drunks enjoy drinking but not so much losing their jobs, their family, their health.... Adulterers enjoy sex outside of marriage but not particularly the destruction of their marriage or the pain caused to their children.
At the end of The Day, personal happiness on earth may well be the foundation for the words "away from me you evildoers" (Matt 7:23), while holiness will consummate in the ultimate happiness as you "receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet 1:11).
God does want you to be happy. But of first importance is holy not happy because holiness is the source of eternal happiness. Happiness, on the other hand, has no guarantee of holiness or of eternal blessing - in fact, it nay end in eternal sorrow. Jus' Say'n.
My granddad divorced my grandmother after 40 years of marriage so he could marry a younger women which ended in divorce after she dumped him for a younger man. After that, he attempted to reunite with my grandmother but she didn't want him any more so he packed up his things and moved to Oklahoma to find love and happines only to marry and divorce 5 more miserable women. The 6th wife was probably the worst of them all but granddad lost his hearing so she was his last up until his death. The old saying goes, Stanley, "you might have the Worlds Record of marriages if you weren't married to Micky for 40 years." Anyways, he was was the one who lost so much. When he left CA, my sis & I were young so we don't remember how much he adored us when we were babies. My mom told us the cool stories. The women he married were miserable and no one could stand them, including him. For me, I believe that he was punshished enough so God will consider his debt paid and save him. After all, he did obey God's commandments, "thou shalt not commit adultery". He married all 6 of them...just saying...
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