Jun P. Espina 5 min read
Updated on November 17th, 2022
Christian Doctrine on Peace and Happiness
Charles Spurgeon once said, “Those who are ‘beloved of the Lord’ must be the most happy and joyful people to be found anywhere upon the face of the earth.” This truth is proven by born-again Christians. Fake Christians cannot experience genuine happiness with Christ since they don’t belong to Him. But since the birth of Christianity, the true followers of our Lord have experienced this Christian doctrine of Spirit-caused calmness of the soul. They wrote songs and hymns hundreds of years ago with the same lyrical subject of joy in the Lord, and churches have used them in their services until now.
The apostle Paul said that only those indwelt by Christ’s Spirit belong to Christ. (Rom. 8:9) The joyfulness of God’s people is experienced by worshipful Christians, to whom our Lord imparts His own peace. It is the Christian doctrine of finding true happiness: the peace of Jesus and the hope of eternal life that our Lord gives to those who are His. (John 10:27-30)
Read Also: Things You Need to Know About Finding Happiness in Life
God’s Word Concerning Peace that Christ Gave Us
The peace we experienced as true Christians is traceable back to Christ’s shed blood on the cross at Calvary. Our faith in Christ’s substitutionary death has satisfied God’s demand for righteousness. Wrote James: “[A]nd the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ and he was called the friend of God.” (Jas. 2:23)
This is core Bible doctrine or teaching.
Paul said we are justified or made righteous by faith. Therefore, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus. (cf. Rom. 5:1) Before our conversion, we were unhappy, confused, and insatiable. Even tons of love and money cannot pacify our consciences during times of depression, sickness, or thoughts of our coming death. Happiness springs from our peace of mind and heart, and we can attain it only through Christ’s divine peace. This is His teaching in John 14:27:
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”
Bible Teaching Regarding Our Hope of Eternal Life?
First, God is the God of hope. If we have no hope of eternal life, it is because our faith did not come from the Word of God.
This is the mind-blowing Bible doctrine that Christ lives in our body, and He empowers us with the hope of future glory that is our everlasting life. The apostle Paul teaches it in Colossians 1:27:
“[T]o whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
Second, Jesus is the only Giver of eternal life. (See John 10:28.) Hence, only through our faith in Him and His promises can we have confidence in things unseen—as His promise of life beyond the grave.
This assurance of God’s love and salvation gives us hope and joy.
In Romans, Paul said: “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 15:13) God’s Spirit is involved in making us happy. He will give us “all joy and peace in believing.”
This hope that God gives to us won’t cause us disappointment and sorrow because it is God’s love poured into our hearts. (Rom. 5:5) The core of this hope is our eternal life in Christ Jesus. “[In] the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago.” (Tit. 1:2)
Christ said, “[A]nd I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:28) If you are not happy with this promise, you can never be happy since other sources of joy are inferior to the assurance of our life after death.
The Christian doctrine of finding true happiness rests on Jesus. If you have Jesus—if you have His Spirit in your soul—you can never be insecure and unstable spiritually unless you worship the wrong Jesus.
When we talk about happiness in Jesus, some cannot digest this statement. Laughter and mockery become their escape from this reality. I mentioned in my other articles that when the topic is Buddha or Muhammad, people won’t be offended at all. But when the discussion centers on Christ and His promises, they become restless and make all kinds of negative comments against born-again Christianity. Our Lord has a word on this matter. He said in John 15:25, “They hated Me without a cause.”
Read Also: How Did I Gather Courage to Move Forward?
Is It Also a Christian Doctrine to Meet Our Needs by Asking Jesus?
“Christ once said, ‘Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.’ (John 14:13) Yes, we can be both well-off and happy. Our peace and abundance as believers glorify Christ. He’s not glorified if we live in pain and hunger for life. Who will say we’ve got a dead God if we look like angels because we’ve got food on our table, time to groom ourselves, and money in our pockets?”
You will hear people in church assemblies say that if you are rich, you are an unholy Christian. Many equate Christianity with a religion of poverty and suffering. The Roman Catholic Church wants this impression to control Catholics. You can find more images about Christ’s suffering instead of His resurrection inside the Catholic Church. Again, the idea alludes to servanthood and submission to priests and popes.
The Bible, however, teaches victory and abundance, even though the apostles were poor. Obedience just follows faith, and faith grows in the soil of truth from the Scriptures. God gave us the picture of a Savior who is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah,” a victorious King of kings. Christ said, “Whatever you ask in My name,” and He meant “whatever,” which includes a financial blessing from God.
Since the birth of Christianity, rich Christians have been behind every mission work, every church built, and every Bible printed. Christ will give us peace, hope, and the assurance of a meal when our bodies need it through hard work. He would not leave hungry and filthy. The ravens fed the prophet Elijah because he had nothing to eat. I said “hard work” because God is against lazy Christians.
The apostle Paul said, “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” (2 Thess. 3:10) Sloth is ungodliness.
We discussed this topic of Christian happiness thoroughly in Chapter Five of my book, Christian Teachings Revisited.
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