HAPPINESS: What is it, Where to Find it And How to Make it Last Forever
By Andrew Wilson
Crossway. 184 pages. £14.99
ISBN 978 1 433 599 972
“Everyone wants to be happy”. That is how Andrew Wilson begins this brief but timely book.
As is expected from a book by Wilson this one is well-conceived, carefully researched, well-written and engaging. One of the disclaimers offered is that Wilson is a cheerful person; he is aware that there is a danger of personality projection by an author that assumes everyone should be like him.
The book is organised around six questions: Why, what, who, when, where, and how?
The first chapter asks why happiness is possible and asserts that “God wants you to be happy”. Wilson explores how true happiness is rooted in God who is happy in Himself. This chapter reflects on how joy and sorrow can co-exist in God and us, and the choices we need to make to establish this joy in our lives.
The second chapter deals with what happiness is. Wilson lists seven flavours of happiness: 1. Delight. 2. Merriment. 3. Ecstasy. 4. Luck. 5. Flourishing 6. Contentment. 7. Fullness. He suggests that not all happinesses are created equal and that some of these flavours are to be desired more than others, and some not desired at all. The chapter tackles the question of whether there is a distinction between happiness and joy. Wilson dismisses any idea of a distinction, seeing the words as interchangeable, and prefers instead to speak of the deep and shallow experience of happiness.
The third chapter asks “Who are we?”, and suggests that we are a bundle of contrasts: body and soul, heart and mind, flesh and spirit, and discovery and defence. Wilson reminds us that “Happiness is not a choice. It is affected by our choices,” yet can sometimes be affected by things over which we have little or no control.
The fourth chapter looks at when we delight. “Our happiness changes over time because we do”. Making use of the Book of Ecclesiastes, Wilson considers how time and seasons influence our experience of happiness. He suggests that we need to be aware of our body clock and our response to changing seasons. “Wisdom largely consists in being able to say what time it is.”
Chapter 5 looks at where joy lives, in order to be clear about its true source.
This chapter seeks to help the reader avoid looking for happiness in all the wrong places, or be satisfied with a superficial experience of joy that does not last. Wilson demonstrates that joy is located in God Himself and can be known as we come to Him by faith in Jesus. There is a lovely line about this: “God’s glory tent is now the person of the Lord Jesus, where light shines in the darkness and Word becomes flesh (John 1v14).” This idea is then unpacked through a supermarket trolley sweep on joy in John’s Gospel and the rest of the New Testament!
Chapter 6 looks at the practical issue of how we rejoice in the Lord. This involves developing a nuanced and rounded view of what happiness looks like, expressed in: humility, thankfulness, compassion, kindness, forgiveness, life-in-common, grief (“Happy people cry more”), praise, awe, love, prioritizing it, turning delights into disciplines, talking to yourself (in contrast to listening to yourself). It is helpful to see that happiness embraces our darker moments and like many valuable things in life requires effort and discipline.
Wilson has also written a brief booklet version for evangelistic purposes (this will be available in packs of five). It made me wonder whether deep happiness might be seen as one of Christianity’s greatest secret weapons? I was glad to read this book and happy to recommend it.
Read extracts from Happiness here: "Christian, how can you be happier?"
