Does It Matter Whether We Serve God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart?
In this two-minute video, I talk about Deuteronomy 28:47, which says, “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart…”
In the video, I share a quote from A.W. Tozer, who said, “The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world!” He offered this explanation in his book The Attributes of God (vol. 1):
Goodness is that in God which desires the happiness of His creatures and that irresistible urge in God to bestow blessedness [happiness]. The goodness of God takes pleasure in the pleasure of His people. . . . For a long time it has been drummed into us that if we are happy, God is worried about us. We believe He’s never quite pleased if we are happy. But the strict, true teaching of the Word is that God takes pleasure in the pleasure of His people, provided His people take pleasure in God.
You can watch the full message this clip was taken from, “God’s Offer of Happiness in Christ.” See also my blog “Am I Sinning If I’m Not Happy as a Christian?”
By Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, www.epm.org. Used with permission.
