Friends: Are you happy for a minute?  Joyous for eternity? Let’s ask a Christian high school economics class. See the column below.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #898

January 30, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Happy for Now

By Bob Walters

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! – Philippians 4:4

I put the simple, first assignment to my high school economics students: Write a paragraph comparing/contrasting “happiness” and “joy.” Are they different?

Our textbook’s introduction presents economics as the science of how and why people make the choices they make. We have unlimited “wants” amid limited resources of materials, time, health, wealth, intellect, space, etc.  We have natural resources from the hand and mind of God, and innumerable resources from the hand and mind of man.

How does one decide what to do?  We weigh what makes us happy, secure, comfortable, and at peace while steering away from fear, chaos, harm, death, and treachery.  Most of us lean toward love and away from hatred … as often as we can.

Since I teach at a Christian high school rooted in the Bible (Mission Christian Academy, Fishers, Indiana), I pointed out that “joy” comes up much more often in scripture than does the word “happy.” The concordance in the back of my NIV Bible lists dozens of citations for “joy,” with only four for “happy.”  Is it just a translator’s choice of synonyms? Or is there an actual difference worth investigating?  Turns out, there is.

I have 28 students in two classes.  Overall, the students came back with ‘happiness” being more of a temporary emotion, and “joy” being a long-term way of life.  Since they are just about all church kids, it isn’t surprising that they see joy, as it is witnessed in the world, generally through the eyes of Jesus.  They can’t help it.  I love it.

One student, writing a longer paragraph pointed to Philippians 4:4, quoted above, about rejoicing always.  Happiness, she noted, is often circumstantial but we are called to joy and gratitude, [e.g.] “this is the day that the Lord has made; therefore, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24). We spent both class periods discussing responses.

To me, the most surprising information was from a student directly citing the Merriam Webster Dictionary which had joy as the temporary emotion, and happiness as the enduring way of life, just backwards from the Bible. But on quick evaluation, it is also predictable.  Merriam Webster is a secular academic resource, not Christian wisdom.

I was encouraged that almost all the students did the assignment, shared their thoughts, and discussed them in both scriptural terms and by lived experience.  

What I didn’t tell them before, but shared with them in class, was that over the years I’ve written several pages worth of aphorisms and notes about joy and happiness.  The topic / comparison is a particular favorite of mine. My mentor George Bebawi once pointed out that happiness is not really encouraged in the Bible, but joy is.  “Happiness is transient,” he said, “but joy exists in Creation.” I love that line, and it got me thinking.

Happy is about me, joy is about God.  Happy is now, joy is eternal.  Happy is a symptom, joy is a condition. Happy is a circumstance, joy is a worldview. Happy speaks to comfort; joy speaks to love.  Joy, I believe, looks like peace and acts like confidence with a generous dose of wisdom and love.  Joy defeats hate; while happiness is swallowed up by hatred. Our purest joy is facilitating the well-being of others.

I hear secular voices insist, “I deserve to be happy,” or express the notion that personal happiness is the central mission, purpose, and goal of life. We all want to be happy, and I want all people to be happy. But a loving relationship with God through faith, trust, and truth in Jesus and the guiding light of the Holy Spirit, is truly life’s goal.

And that is God’s glory. Our joy in the Lord is our strength … now and always.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) always knew joy existed, but couldn’t prove it until Jesus.