This is a transcript of episode 12 of the WAK Talk podcast. To listen on your favorite podcast platform, click here. To watch on YouTube, click here.
Can we be happy without truth?
The other day I caught my kids complaining. They were complaining about a broken toy or a toy not working how they wanted it to. What was funny about this instance is that they said almost the exact same words with the same tone as when I was complaining the day before. I was complaining about needing to fix a broken sprinkler and calling it stupid for breaking. So, when I heard my kids complaining, it was like staring into a mirror and getting slapped in the face. Kids are really good at that. They listen to everything and repeat the stuff you don’t want them to repeat.
Grumble & Complain
When we grumble and complain, what are we declaring to the people around us? We are declaring that our happiness is based on whether we get what we want. Our happiness is based on our feelings. When I complain about having to fix a sprinkler and call the sprinkler stupid because it broke, I’m calling the sprinkler something that it’s not because it doesn’t have a brain to be called stupid or not, and it wasn’t the cause of the break. I’m not speaking truth. I’m reacting out of emotion instead of thinking clearly and responding appropriately. Things break and need to be fixed. That’s the way of things. Instead of complaining, I should turn to the Lord and ask Him to give me patience and give me the knowledge to fix the sprinkler. I can use this opportunity to learn something and also teach my kids how to fix a sprinkler and have a good attitude about it. But I chose to complain which taught them to complain.
I’m reminded of the Israelites after God brought them out of Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land. The Israelites grumbled and complained a lot. They grumbled and complained about not having enough food, water, and shelter. But the Lord was providing everything they needed. He was lighting their path, protecting them, and He promised them a better land. He was simply asking them to trust and obey Him. But they kept grumbling and complaining. They went as far as saying that they would rather be back in Egypt, in slavery, because they at least had a good meal and a home to go back to each night.
Similarly, when Christians grumble and complain, we are acting like the world. We are essentially telling the world that we aren’t content with God and that we don’t trust Him. We believe we can create our happiness on our own, without God and without the truth.
Last week, my pastor preached on Philippians 2. Verses 14 through 16 say: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the Word of life.”
If you, Christian, are grumbling and complaining, you are not shining like stars—you are not standing out from the world. Instead, you are being just like the world and declaring the same things as they are. You are declaring that you know best. You know what makes you happy better than God does. You don’t need God or the truth.
Happiness & Truth
But can we be truly happy without truth? I don’t believe we can. When we try to be happy without truth, we grumble and complain because we are trying to tie our happiness to something that was never meant to make us happy, and we are disappointed every time. Take, for example, a fish. Can a fish be happy out of water? No. It would die. The truth about the fish is that it was made for living in water, not on land. It is happy in water because that’s how God made it.
The same is true for humanity. If we try to be happy apart from God and the purposes He made us for, then we won’t ever be satisfied. You can see this clearly with the transgender and the pro-choice movement. They deny and ignore the truth because it’s not what they think will make them happy. And then they try to get the government to force everyone to accept their way of thinking. That’s why these groups are often the loudest because they don’t want to listen to anyone, especially to the truth. They want to suppress the truth so that they can pursue what they believe will make them happy. But happiness apart from truth is not only a lie, but enslavement to a false reality.
Now to turn this same question on everyone. How do we all do the same? What things are we tying our happiness to? Is it truth or something else? We often choose to compare, complain, lie, cheat, covet, judge, look at things we shouldn’t, listen to things we shouldn’t, hope in the wrong things, listen to our feelings and desires, and give into our fears. We ignore God because we want to follow our desires. We believe we know how to make ourselves happy.
But, to truly be happy, what does happiness need to be attached to? Is it our feelings, success, wealth, relationships, gender, race, political party, or popularity? None of the above. It’s truth. It’s Jesus.
Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Why would He say that if we were meant to find happiness apart from truth—apart from Him? Doesn’t happiness require life? Then it must require truth. And Jesus is the way to both. By following Jesus, we understand how to truly live. He came to earth to show us the way.
The Pursuit of Happiness
Here’s what the founding fathers believed which was expressed in the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”
Do you think the founding fathers’ idea of happiness was apart from truth? I don’t believe so.
Without objective truth, the founding fathers couldn’t have written this document. Without objective truth, we have no rights, and we certainly wouldn’t have happiness. Here’s what objective truth does for us all. It protects us from ourselves and the evil desires of our flesh. It puts us in our place. It reminds us of reality. It convicts. It sets good and right boundaries for us to live by. The amazing thing about the truth is that it is a person. The truth is Jesus, the one and only Son of the living God. And whether you believe in God or not, you should want the truth to protect you. You should want the truth to tell you how to live the best life possible. Only with the truth can we truly be happy. The truth sets us free. The truth is life-giving.
Happiness by the current culture is believed to be whatever you want, regardless of truth, laws, common sense, and morality. Happiness equals good feelings and contentment. But that requires everyone to follow suit. If your happiness depends on your feelings, other people will always get in the way. Unless they are forced to think, speak, and act how you want them to, regardless of whether it’s based on truth. But then that interferes with their happiness. For example, biological men playing in women’s sports and going in women’s bathrooms.
So, now the question is what happens when one group’s happiness interferes with another’s? Do we weigh the options and determine which is better? By what standard? No, it shouldn’t matter which is better or worse. What matters is which is right? And by right, I mean which of these is aligned with objective truth.
I believe the founding fathers’ idea of the pursuit of happiness is being free. They had the idea of less government. Less government being involved in our lives. They believed in being free to pursue marriage, having a family, buying and owning your own property and home, purusing a career to work hard with purpose, and being free to worship how you want. These are all pursuits of happiness.
When we walk away from the truth, no one is happy.
