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Oh yes….just the title brings back cheesy moments of myself in a group of children making silly hand gestures and singing loudly and terribly off key. Well they were singing off key but I wasn’t. Right, so now that I have established that I didn’t sing off key we can talk about the topic at hand. Why do so many Christians look unhappy?? If I wasn’t a Christ follower already, I’m not sure that I would want to be if I based my decision on the way other “Christians” looked. Sad, serious, judgmental, angry and condescending are some of the adjectives that come to mind.
Everywhere I look I see mad Christians. They are mad about the president and the direction our nation is going. They are mad that church attendance is so low. They are mad because their worship pastor won’t sing hymns anymore, or they are mad because he won’t stop singing hymns. They are ticked that their co-workers won’t stop cursing around them. They are angry that their tithes and offerings are supporting a missionary somewhere in Kenya. The list goes on and on. I am convinced that if you looked around at the pitiful state of our nation, economy, schools, etc you can find something to be mad about every day.

But we are called to love people, not be angry with them.

If it’s not a mad Christian, then it’s a sad Christian. The doom and gloom Christian that prophesies that we are all going to die tomorrow at noon. There is a famine, tornado or terrorist attack and we will all die. God is going to pour out his wrath on all humanity and nothing will survive…so they say. You can hide under a rock, or in a cave or build an underground cellar but you can’t escape Him. He doesn’t like you and you need to be sad and repent. But even being sad and repenting won’t save you because it’s hopeless. Why bother??

But we are called to encourage people, not drown them with fear.

What about the judgmental, condescending Christian? The one who is perfect and judges everyone else for having the glass of wine or being twenty pounds overweight. They have it all together and do not understand why everyone else isn’t perfect like they are. Never mind they have hatred in their heart for other people or a slicing tongue. They murder people with their words but that isn’t the same as the real sin. That isn’t technically one of the Ten Commandments so it doesn’t count. They think we need more rules to follow! That will fix everything.

But we weren’t made to follow rules, we were made to be sons and daughters of God.

Where are the Happy Christians? The ones who beam with God’s light and radiate His presence. The Happy Christians needs to step up to the plate and show the world God’s goodness has overcome the darkness of this world. Yes the plight of our nation that we are watching unfold right now isn’t a nice, squeaky clean process but a Happy Christian can still genuinely smile and encourage others because their hope isn’t in a presidential candidate, federal judge or congressional representative. Their hope is in Jesus and His reign. Yes the terrorism of this world is scary and it has touched our nation but Jesus said our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life so if we go out we know where we are going! The Happy Christian knows that this world is just a temporary holding place for us. We are literally aliens here. Aliens that have been called to bring as much heaven to earth as possible. Jesus isn’t running around heaven begging someone to intervene because it’s hopeless on earth. He isn’t overwhelmed with the evil He sees and throwing His hands up in the air. No He is confident and assured that His plan will work.

The Happy Christian can smile at “non-Christians” and actually be friends with them. After all, happy Christians know they have been called to love, just like Christ loved sinners, tax collectors and prostitutes. Happy Christians are not worried about the sin of everyone tainting them because they know their connection with God is secure. They simply allow Him to love other people through them.

What a sad day we live in when we spend our days angry, sad or condescending to the others that are lost and need Jesus. We have the answer, why wouldn’t we by happy? We have already won this battle, why do we need to act defeated? We have been forgiven of so much, why can’t we show that same grace to others who need it?

If you’re happy and you know it, please pass this blog on!