Hebrews 1:9
“Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”
Happiness is not a destination, but the result of an action. We oftentimes think that we would be happy at a place, but once we get there we discover that the place didn’t bring us happiness. You can think that if you attended another church or moved to another place that you will be happy, but if you are not happy now you won't be happy when you move.
Likewise, happiness is not a possession, but you will possess happiness as a result of doing right. Many people think they would be happy if they had more money, but they find out that more money doesn’t give happiness. Getting a new house, new car, fancier clothes, better shoes or having the newest technological gadget won’t make you happy because happiness is not found in a possession. You can think all day long that if you just had something that you would be happy, but happiness cannot be purchased.
God says, “… therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” We can be happier than everyone else around us. Whenever God uses the word “therefore,”you must look before the “therefore” to find out the result of“therefore.” Before you can be glad “above thy fellows,” there are two things you must do. You will never be happy without performing these two actions.
First, you must love righteousness. Righteousness can be defined as doing righteous acts. In other words, you will never be happy until you start loving right. Far too many Christians complain about doing right, but God says that if you want to be happy you must love doing right. Not just love right, but love the act of doing right. Doing right needs to be a love of your life.
For instance, I love helping people. When I get the privilege of helping others do right it makes me happy. A while back, my daughter overheard a conversation that I had with someone about how to witness to people from a certain religion. She asked me about it when I got off the phone, and I explained to her how to do it. It wasn't but a few weeks later that she came home from soul winning and told me that she was able to use my advice to see someone saved. That not only made me happy, but it made her happy. Loving righteous acts is the first step to happiness.
The second step to happiness is to hate iniquity. If you love something, you must hate that which will destroy or hurt what you love. I know there are many people who are all about love, but you can't love without hating that which would destroy what you love. If you love righteousness, you are going to hate what stops righteous acts. If you love truth, you will hate lying. If you love decency, you will hate indecency. The whole reason there are established rules is because we are trying to guard what we love.
Friend, I’m not against you being all about love, but you must have established rules if you are going to protect what you love. You will find that those who establish standards of holiness and are serving the LORD will be the happiest people. Happiness is never found in worldly lifestyles, but it is the result of loving righteousness and hating iniquity.