Why do so many people assume that the answer to the question posed in the title of this column is, “Of course, God wants me to be happy!” Would it shock you to hear me say that the answer might be, “No, God doesn’t want you to be happy?”

Happiness can be a good thing but not always is that true. When my personal happiness comes at the price of my personal holiness, God doesn’t smile! Indeed, God is far more desirous of our eternal holiness than for our temporary happiness!
When I was a child, it would have made me very happy to spend my life watching cartoons and playing games and eating Twinkies and Milky Way bars every day. Summer vacation all-year-round seemed like a great idea. Nine months of school and three months of summer break just didn’t seem fair. But thankfully, I had wise, caring parents who refused to forfeit my long term well-being for short term fun! They didn’t mind making me go to school, requiring me to do homework, expecting me to do my chores and forcing me to eat balanced meals, even if those things made me less happy. They wanted me to grow up to be a healthy, productive citizen rather than a lazy, ignorant bum!
Happiness can be a good thing, but not when I gain “happiness” by breaking the rules. If I have to lie and cheat and steal to get something that I feel is necessary to make me “happy,” God surely doesn’t want that kind of “happiness” for anyone!
Do you remember when it was more important to demonstrate the integrity of good sportsmanship than to win a game? One of the philosophies I learned when I was a kid was “Winners never cheat and cheaters never win!” Wouldn’t that be nice if professional athletes would abide by that principle? The rampant use of performance enhancing drugs seemed to pay off big time for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and Mark McGuire. They sure seemed happy when they set all those records…for a while anyway. But now those so-called records are scoffed by most who once cheered them.  
Happiness can be a good thing, but not at the expense of someone else’s broken heart. How happy can I truly be when I leave a trail of wounded souls in my wake?
Several years ago, I recall a woman who decided she wasn’t happy with the man she had promised to “Love, honor, and cherish as long as we both shall live.” She decided that she wanted out of her marriage and she devised a strategy to accomplish her desired goal. She not only had an extramarital affair but on two occasions, she poisoned her husband’s supper. Though the unsuspecting man got very ill, he recovered, assuming he had come down with a severe case of the flu! When her husband later learned of her attempted murder, incredibly, he graciously forgave his spouse!
Some weeks later, she accused her husband of physical abuse and had him arrested. Her charges were proven false but this led to her desired goal of divorce. But that still wasn’t enough. To get her “happiness,” she had to be sure that he would lose his parental rights. She manipulated the divorce settlement so that his support payments left him nearly destitute. After a couple of years, he had fallen so far behind in child support that he had no choice but to relinquish his parental rights. She pronounced herself to be “happier than she had been in years!” Her once loving husband was a broken man.
She later met a man who was rather wealthy. She stated, “The first time, I married for love. The next time, I will marry for money!” Can you say, “Narcissistic?”
She moved away and targeted a successful businessman who had been brokenhearted and lonely ever since his first wife had left him for another man ten years earlier. In his loneliness, he proposed marriage within three months of meeting this gold-digger! Their life together lasted about three years and then she left him for husband number three. Her “pursuit of happiness” was attained at the price of multiple broken hearts. God is not as happy as she claims to be.
“God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap!” (Galatians 6:7) In the short term, that doesn’t always appear to be true. In Psalm 73, the author is perplexed by how the ungodly seem to prosper. But he concludes, “When I went into the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end.” (Psalm 73:17) Eventually, happiness gained in ungodly ways, will be replaced by deep regret in the presence of a holy God!