Happy All the Time? Really?

I'm inright, outright, upright, downright,  (yep, the peppy kids’ song)
Happy all the time.  (join in!)
I'm inright, outright, upright, downright,  (don’t forget the hand movements!)
Happy all the time.   (one more verse to go!)
Since Jesus Christ came in,
And cleansed my heart from sin,
I'm inright, outright, upright, downright,
Happy all the time! (whew, take a breath now!)

Were you singing along and doing all the hand motions? Come on, admit it! 

If we summarize the message of this song, we would say that once we are saved we will always be happy, joyful, and #blessed. Positive Pollyannas, at your service!  

There is a bit of sarcasm there, if you didn’t catch it. 

The words in this song may lead children (and adults) to think that our life will be all sunshine and rainbows after we are saved. And unfortunately when we are sharing the gospel with people, sometimes we can say things that imply that being a Christian means life will be great all the time. 

The Bible does tell us to rejoice always, count it all joy and be thankful. But this doesn’t mean we are expected to smile and be happy all the time.  We will encounter trouble and struggle with unpleasant emotions. If we look at all of Scripture, we clearly see that grief, disappointment, and distress are normal parts of the post-fall world. 

Consider Job and Joseph. Think of Hannah and Naomi. Or read the 40% of the Psalms that are classified as laments. 

Joy is not something that we can manufacture by repeating positive affirmations or smiling more. Making a list of ten things we are thankful for won’t do the trick, either. Joy is one aspect of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. As we are gradually transformed more into Christlikeness, this fruit is the evidence of the work of the Spirit in our lives. 

In Philippians, Paul mentioned being thankful, rejoicing, or being glad more than a dozen times. He wrote this from prison. This shows us that joy is not a fleeting feeling that is dependent on our circumstances.  Biblical joy is a deep, settled, lasting state of contentment. It is grounded in God’s word, his character and his faithfulness.

As we go through trials, joy comes from remembering that God has a purpose for them. We aren’t expected to be  happy  about the trial, but we can find joy in knowing that God is working through it. There are lessons we can only learn through trials. We don’t know if we are truly patient, gentle, and kind until we have been refined through adverse circumstances. 

When life is hard and we realize that “don’t worry, be happy” isn’t as easy as it sounds, we look to Christ. He humbled himself, suffered innocently,  endured the cross, and was resurrected. He did all this for the joy of redeeming undeserving sinners like us (Hebrews 12:1-2).

We are his joy. And he is ours. 

Christ didn’t cleanse us from sin so that we could be “happy all the time”. He offered himself as the perfect, sinless sacrifice so that we might have deep, unshakeable joy in him. 


See also: In the Middle of Suffering, We Sing