God Wouldn’t Want Me Unhappy!
The church at Laodicea was diagnosed by Christ as lukewarm. Imagine the graphic picture of Jesus spewing them out of His mouth because of this sin. I suspect that if Christ came back today and were to write letters to some of the churches in America He would address the epidemic of narcissism. I can easily see Him writing that this sin would cause Him to want to vomit us out of His mouth. Narcissism reigns in our culture—young and old alike. We have relegated God to the back seat of our lives and have placed our own interests, desires, and egos firmly in the front seat.
Does God Want Me Unhappy?
Rather than look to God’s Word for how we are to conduct ourselves in areas such as marriage we simply declare, “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy.” And with that self-divine caveat we proceed to do whatever our hearts desire.
God doesn’t want you to be unhappy? Really? So let me get this straight. God crushed the spotless, sinless lamb of God on the cross for sin that was not His own (Isaiah 53:10). He made Him sin—who knew no sin—to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). But it’s you He wouldn’t want unhappy?
It’s ironic to me that literally tens of thousands of Christians have uttered wedding vows that say some form of:
I, (name), take you (name), to be my lawfully wedded (wife/husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.
Yet, what we really mean is, “I’ll take you as long as you make me happy.” You have forgotten that your spouse is a part of the body of Christ and what you’re really saying is:
Jesus I can’t love you, not this part of your body, because this part of you makes me unhappy right now. And, since I am the center of my universe, if you want me to love you then make me happy with this part of you. Then I will love you—because Jesus’ blood was not enough.
If you aren’t happy right now with your spouse you may be in that “worse” category (of “better or worse”). And unless your spouse is dead, you made a vow before men and God that you would stay with that person. Never forget you will one day give an account for that vow and your actions.
When your world revolves around yourself it is easy to lose perspective. If you have a problem in your marriage right now, there is a good chance that it is not what your spouse is or isn’t doing. The problem may very well be that Jesus Christ is not magnificent enough to you. He is not majestic enough to you. And above all, he is not sufficient for your egocentric, narcissistic, humanistic and sinful fleshly desires.
After Job lost his wealth, flocks, and children did he leave his wife and say “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy?” No! He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
If you have recently uttered the phrase, “God wouldn’t want me to be unhappy” then allow me to ask you, “Who do you think you are?!” At what point did your happiness become the focal point of the Almighty Creator? Unhappy might be right where God needs you, to bring maximum glory to His name!
This world is not all about you. It’s all about Him. The sooner we learn that and communicate that to our children the better we will understand what God really wants.