Matthew 5:1-12 reveals that God is concerned with our happiness. “Blessedness” or “Better Happiness,” God’s kind of happiness is spelled out there.
Happiness or blessedness, as is defined in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, involves an inward reality that impacts our relationship with God and others. It is a happiness from the inside-out. Our blessedness isn’t connected to our earthly status or to any earthly accomplishment, but it is tied to a pure love for God and others.
God’s definition of happiness or blessedness deals with internal realities while the world’s definition of happiness is dependent on external conditions being the way we desire them to be. You might say worldly happiness depends on what happens, but blessedness or “better happiness” is based on our desire to be in right relationship with God and others. Worldly happiness is temporary and fleeting. Better happiness, “blessedness,” is ongoing and eternal.
Happiness is becoming who God desires and doing what God has wired you to do.
God has a plan for each of our lives. There is a general plan for all of us as believers, and the general plan is spelled out in Matthew 5. The Beatitudes spell out what it is that God desires in and through our lives. What we acquire isn’t nearly as important as who we become, and who we become will affect our state of blessedness. In Christ, we are to become the good guys, the mercy guys, the compassionate guys, the humble guys. We are to be the peace lovers, the ones who can turn the other cheek, and take the high road. We are to become people who forgive and seek the righteous way of life.
Do you want to be the kind of happy God says you can be? Figure out why you are here and what God has wired you to do. Go deep in your relationship with Him. Make Him the center of everything you are and do. Let Him control you from the inside so that if He asks you to, your behavior, though it might seem contrary to the ways of the world, will always please Him. And find ways to invest in people, your family, your friends, and even in strangers. Share who God is to you with them and share what He has blessed you with, with as many people as you can.
You may not always live happy in the world’s eyes, but you can always live blessed.
