THE MYTH OF THE ALWAYS-HAPPY CHRISTIAN

‍Christianity is great, but not everything we say or believe about it is necessarily true. Stephen Mattson writes about the seven most common stereotypes that Christians have about Christianity that are wrong. Here is what he says about one of them: It's a myth that Christians are always happy.

There's an unhealthy expectation within many faith communities that we're always supposed to be joyful, as if being anything other than a smiling, peaceful, and jolly spiritual cheerleader is detrimental to Christianity.

"Being a good witness" is often the Christian way of saying, "act the part." But while contentment and happiness is a spiritual virtue, it should never come at the expense of honesty, transparency, and truthfulness. We shouldn't pretend to be happy and use the facade of joy as an evangelism tool.

God desires reconciliation and renewal, and this often means confronting broken relationships and dealing with sin within our lives. Asking for forgiveness, admitting addiction, confronting abuse, seeking justice, requesting help, and serving others often makes you the opposite of happy - and that's OK.

There's a season for everything, and some of life's most important, loving, and holy moments are times of trial, sorrow, and sadness - so let's stop trying to turn Christianity into something it was never meant to be.

[Posted by God's Politics 03 December copyright Sojourners 2013. Read more at http://sojo.net/blogs/2013/12/03/seven-lies-about-christianity-which-christians-believe]‍ ‍