Happiness - Hardcover

2017 ECPA Christian Book Award Finalist (Christian Living category)
Christians are supposed to be happy. In fact, we are supposed to radiate joy, peace, and contentment that is so unmistakable and so attractive that others are naturally drawn to us because they want what we have. And yet, in today's culture, the vast majority of Christians are perceived as angry, judgmental people who don't seem to derive any joy from life whatsoever. So why aren't we happy?

Unfortunately, many Christians are taught early on that God doesn't want us to be happy (he wants us to be holy). In fact, many Christians are laboring under the false notion that God himself is not happy. But nothing could be further from the truth! God does want us to be happy. The Bible is filled with verses that prove that ours is a happy, joy-filled God who not only loves celebrations but also desperately wants his children to be happy. Why else would He go to the lengths He did to ensure our eternal happiness in His presence? We know that we will experience unimaginable joy and happiness in Heaven, but that doesn't mean we can't also experience joy and happiness here on earth.

In Happiness, noted theologian Randy Alcorn dispels centuries of misconceptions about happiness and provides indisputable proof that God not only wants us to be happy, He commands it. The most definitive study on the subject of happiness to date, this book is a paradigm-shifting wake-up call for the church and Christians everywhere.

Think God doesn’t want you to be happy? Think again.
While Christians shouldn’t deny or ignore suffering, we should be so energized by contagious joy and radiate such inner happiness, peace, and contentment that others are attracted to what we have in Christ. Yet Christians are often perceived as angry, judgmental, and duty driven.

Why aren’t we happier?

Unfortunately, many believers are taught that God wants us to be holy but not happy and that joy and happiness are fundamentally different. We’ve even been left with the impression that God himself isn’t happy. Yet nothing could be further from the truth!

God is happy, and he wants us to be happy too. Why else would Scripture call him “the happy God”? Why else would he call the gospel the “good news of great joy” and go to extraordinary lengths to ensure our eternal happiness?

We know we’ll experience unimaginable happiness in Heaven and on the New Earth, but that doesn’t mean we can’t also experience great happiness here and now.

Join bestselling author and noted theologian Randy Alcorn as he dispels the modern Christian misconceptions about happiness and provides indisputable biblical proof that God not only wants us to be happy but commands and empowers us to be happy in him!

The day has not yet come when God will wipe away every tear from his children’s eyes, but rest assured, that day will come. Until then, this definitive work can help change the way you think about joy and happiness.

From the inside flap:

Get a head start on living happily ever after!
Webster’s dictionary defines happiness as—wait for it—“the state of being happy.”

Seems easy enough, right? And yet happiness eludes us.

Most of us spend our entire lives trying to be happy, only to come up short time and time again. We think, If only I could find the perfect relationship, lose weight, get a better job, or make more money—then I’d be happy!

But the truth is, none of these things will ever bring us true, lasting joy and happiness. There is, however, something that can.

C. S. Lewis wrote, “If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire. . . . If you want joy, . . . peace, eternal life, you must get close to . . . the thing that has them.”

Now, in the most definitive work on the topic of happiness to date, Randy Alcorn shows us how we can draw closer to the source of joy, peace, and eternal life, and experience all the happiness God, in his infinite grace, has to offer.