Randy Alcorn's Blog, page 46

Are People in Heaven Praying for Those on Earth?

(You can also listen to my thoughts related to this question.)

The answer is possibly yes—at least sometimes. Consider the evidence.

Christ, the God-man, is in Heaven, at the right hand of God, interceding for people on Earth (Romans 8:34), which tells us there is at least one person who has died and gone to Heaven and is now praying for those on Earth.

Then in Revelation 6:10 we see martyrs in Heaven praying to God, asking Him to take specific action on earth. These are saints who have died and are now in God’s presence. They’re actively praying for God’s justice on earth for persecuted believers. It seems likely they’d also be interceding for other aspects of their suffering brethren’s welfare. (Their keen urgency about the justice of God demonstrates again we won’t be passive in Heaven—we’ll be far less tolerant of persecution and a hundred other evils.)

The saints in Heaven are just as much a part of the body of Christ as the saints on earth. (Ephesians 3:15 speaks of “his whole family in heaven and on earth”.) Their sense of connection and loyalty to their brethren logically would be enhanced in Heaven, not diminished, wouldn’t it?

There’s no indication in Scripture that we should pray for the dead. It would do no good to pray for them, since “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Once they die, there’s nothing that can be done to change the state of a believer or unbeliever.

The pertinent question is not “should we pray for the dead?” but “do the dead pray for us?” Revelation 5:8 speaks of the “prayers of the saints” in a context that could include the saints in Heaven. Prayer is simply talking to God. Angels talk to God, therefore angels pray. We will communicate with God in Heaven. That means we’ll pray in Heaven. Will we pray less or more? Given our enhanced righteousness, it seems that in heaven our prayers would be all the more “powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

If people in Heaven witness some of what transpires on earth—then it would seem strange for them not to intercede for those they observe.

It all boils down to assumptions. If we assume those in Heaven aren’t interested in earth—and they don’t observe or feel connected with people on earth—then we’ll conclude they aren’t praying for them. If, on other hand, we assume saints in Heaven observe and take interest in God’s program and people on earth, it stands to reason they would be interceding for their comrades still on the battlefield.

Since God and the angels are clearly concerned with earth, shouldn’t saints in Heaven be? And since Heaven is a place where saints talk to God, shouldn’t we assume that once we’re in Heaven we’ll pray to God for those on earth? Why wouldn’t we?

Questions about our loved ones remembering us or possibly praying for us are rooted in our desire to be assured that our relationship with them continues even though we ­can’t see them. But of that we can be certain. Though we naturally grieve the death of loved ones, we know that if they are believers, we will one day be reunited. As the apostle Paul writes, “We want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that ­Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when ­Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, NLT). Their parting is not the end of our relationship with them, ­only an interruption. We have not “lost” them, because we know where they are. They are experiencing the joy of Christ’s presence in a place so wonderful that Christ called it paradise.

Father, cause the hearts of your people to rejoice that we will one day be with you and with our Savior, ­Jesus. We praise you also that we will be reunited with our friends and family who know you and have gone before us into your presence. Thank you that they remember us, as we remember them. Until we see them again, comfort us with the knowledge that even now we are not disconnected from them. We have not lost them, and they have not lost us, because we know where they are, and they know where we are. We look forward to our homecoming and the Great Reunion!

For more on eternity, browse Randy’s books on Heaven.

Photo by Cody Board on Unsplash

Make It Your Ambition Not to Be Ambitious

Note from Randy: D.L. Moody wisely said, “Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn't really matter.” As Chad Bird explains in this article, we need not be afraid of living an ordinary, normal, quiet life. Rather, we should fear building our lives around ambition and success, pursuing things that won’t matter eternally. May we remember that the ordinary, daily, and mundane acts of faithfulness and kindness that no one else knows are well-known by God. He is watching. He is keeping track. In Heaven He’ll reward us for our acts of faithfulness to Him, right down to every cup of cold water we’ve given to the needy in His name (Mark 9:41). The ordinary matters in light of eternity.  

The Joy of an Unaccomplished Life

By Chad Bird

We were finger-painting in kindergarten or riding our tricycle in the driveway when the seeds were sown into the soil of our young hearts. The songs on the radio fertilized them. TV shows watered them. And so they grew. They blossomed. They spread—these seeds called by names such as Greatness, Extraordinariness, Stand-out-ness, Accomplishment.

We’re small when we begin to absorb the imperatives that dominate our modern life: Be first. Be best. Be somebody. Stand out from the crowd. Rise above your peers. Carve out a name. Be anything but normal.

These desires are as American as apple pie. They’re orthodox exclamations in our national creed. “We dream as big as we want to,” Brooks and Dunn, the country duo, croons.

But all too often, such big dreams are even bigger nightmares: faith-smothering, hope-crushing, love-strangling assumptions concerning what being human is all about.

Failure of Success

I was 18 years old when I began a 20-year journey of getting lost in these dreams, lost in the fog of ambition and the quest for a happy life defined by trophy cases and framed diplomas. My grades had to outrank everyone else’s. My church had to out-orthodox, out-sing, out-tithe other churches. When I landed a position as a seminary professor, my classes had to outshine the others. I clawed my way to the top of the ecclesiological ladder. I earned a degree, then another, then still another.

In the end, I could quote from Augustine’s Confessions in Latin, Rabbi Oshaya from Bereshit Rabbah in Hebrew, and Luther’s catechism in German, but I had no clue what my daughter’s favorite stuffed animal was. In my accomplishments, I only succeeded to fail in the most important parts of life.

And in the aftermath I learned, in the university of the cross, the joy of an unaccomplished life. The happiness of being normal. The immeasurable contentment that comes from dreaming small.

Goodness of the Quiet Life

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life,” Paul writes (1 Thess. 4:11). Were he writing that epistle to an American congregation, instead of Thessalonica, he probably would’ve needed to buy an extra scroll just to expand on this verse. Make it your ambition not to be ambitious, the apostle says, tongue in cheek. Stand out by wearing the camouflage of humility. Dream big about living small. In other words, make it your ambition not to let personal glory bedazzle your bio, guide your relationships, declare your importance, or lead you in discerning where God is to be found. Make it your ambition not to drink that cultural Kool-Aid.

To lead a quiet life doesn’t mean we lower our expectations; it means we lower our eyes. We look beside us. We look around us. Rather than gaping upward at the next trophy we’ll win, the next raise we’ll earn, we look beside us at the people whom God has placed in our lives for us to serve. And we consider their interests, their needs, more significant than our own (Phil 2:3). We shift our gaze from the “next big thing” to all the little things we miss when we’re mesmerized by the idols of bigger, better, bolder.

At the same time, we lower our eyes to see God at work in the underwhelming simplicities of ordinary, daily life. Rather than looking up to the next awesome! electrifying! unbelievable! experience, we look down to find the Lord crawling through death’s shadowed valley with the brokenhearted. Scrubbing scum off his disciples’ feet. Emptying his veins on the soil where soldiers shoot dice. He is the Lord of the lowly. When it’s time to name the greatest in his kingdom, he crowns a little, vulnerable, dependent child. When it’s time to name the first, he exalts the last.

He hides himself beneath his opposite. All his clothing seems way too small, too constrictive, for his limitless frame, but he squeezes his presence into small spaces. His feast of grace fits in a wafer of bread. His world-creating voice in the dentured mouth of a graying preacher.

Christ isn’t out to impress us, but to give us his love that’s compressed into the most mundane things of the world.

Give Me That Same Old Religion

In The Screwtape Letters, the senior devil instructs Wormwood to “work on [the humans’] horror of the Same Old Thing.” That horror, he boasts, “is one of the most valuable passions we have produced in the human heart” (Letter XXV). That horror, however, is but a perversion of our joy. The Same Old Thing is the hangout of the Same Old God. The one who is the same yesterday, today, and a gazillion years hence. The one who sanctifies our same old lives with his same old love through his same old Spirit. Rather than panting after novelty for novelty’s sake, our Lord summons us to find him and our neighbor’s need in the unglorious and unawesome.

God’s glory, and our joy in that glory, is currently not glorious by worldly standards. It’s not found in big accomplishments but seemingly small gifts, like a full manger and an empty tomb. The brown-paper simplicities of life is how God packages our joy. A tiny baby. A crucified Messiah. A hungry neighbor. A needy child. In him, and in them, we learn that a full life is found by emptying ourselves in love, and being filled with love by the Savior who is found in the most unexpected of places.

Chad Bird is an author and Scholar in Residence for 1517. Follow him on Twitter @birdchadlouis.

Photo by Picsea on Unsplash

Putting God First Enhances Everything Beneath Him

In Eyes Wide Open, Steve DeWitt says, “Christians who properly place God as the source and goal of the things they enjoy will find themselves enjoying those things even more. In truth, the way we as believers relish created beauties ought to outstrip that of unbelievers, since we neither find our identity in them nor hold on to them as ultimate.”

Secondary happiness, which is found in something or someone God has created, ultimately leads back to Him. Have you ever pointed to something you want a child to see and then watched the child look at your finger instead of what you’re pointing at? The secondary only fulfills its purpose when people follow it to the primary.

The man who knows his wife is secondary to God can find great happiness in a relationship with her. In contrast, the man who makes his wife primary will be continuously disappointed because she can’t meet his deepest needs. Because he tries to make her into more than any human can be, both will suffer.

Robert Crofts wrote, “Let these earthly pleasures and felicities excite and encourage us to thankfulness, to all duties of virtue and piety, to look higher to their fountain, to God himself, to heaven, to love and enjoy in him, to contemplate his infinite goodness, love, beauty, sweetness, glory, and excellency.”

Paul said, “What is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, NIV).

But, wait—didn’t Paul know that God is our only joy? No, he knew that God is our primary joy. It’s fine for me to say that my children, my grandchildren, and my friends are joys if I remember that God made them and works through them to bring me happiness. They’re not lesser joys to me, but greater ones—precisely because I know whom these gifts come from!

In the movie The Avengers, Thor’s brother, the evil Loki, weary of the Incredible Hulk, says to him in a commanding voice, “Enough! . . . I am a god, you dull creature!” The Hulk, unimpressed, picks up Loki with one hand and gives him a merciless thrashing, pounding him into the ground. As he walks away, the Hulk turns back toward Loki, looking disgusted, and mutters, “Puny god.” Loki, utterly defeated, gives a pathetic little squeak.

All idols are not only false gods but also puny gods. The very gifts of God that can bring us great joy become dismally small when we make them primary. A couch that’s plenty big to sit on suddenly becomes tiny when you need someplace to land a plane. What’s big enough to bring us a little happiness from the hand of an infinitely big God isn’t nearly big enough to bear the weight of all our happiness. Only the true God is that big, and the larger we see Him, the bigger our happiness in Him.

Browse more resourceson the topic of happiness, and see Randy’s related books, including Happiness and  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo by Khamkéo Vilaysing on Unsplash

God Is as Just and Holy as He Is Loving

In order to understand God’s love in our current culture, it’s necessary to distinguish what love doesn’t mean and to see it in relationship to God’s other attributes. Yes, God is love, but it is not His only attribute, nor is it always His defining attribute. More and more we hear that God’s love overshadows all His other attributes, as if the rest have only secondary importance.

Gregory Boyd writes, “God is unsurpassable love. The foundational difference between the true image of God and every version of the serpent’s lie is that Jesus Christ first and foremost reveals God as unsurpassable love: ‘God is love.’... The most fundamental distinguishing characteristic of every false picture of God is that it qualifies and compromises the truth about God’s love.”

Unfortunately, this viewpoint guarantees that affirmations of God’s holiness or justice, which also should never be qualified or compromised, will appear to qualify and compromise God’s love.

God is loving, but He is not only loving. Isaiah says, “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted.... Above him were seraphs, each with six wings.... And they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty’” (6:1–3). Notice that the angels before his face day and night do not cry, “Love, Love, Love is the LORD Almighty.”

Lest we believe that God’s love in the New Testament eclipses His holiness in the Old Testament, the final book of the Bible reveals the present and future in a picture similar to Isaiah’s vision: “Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come’” (Revelation 4:8).

God did not cease to be uncompromisingly holy when Jesus came into the world. God’s eternal character does not change (see Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). That means the following Old Testament declarations remain just as true now as when they first appeared in Scripture:

Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?
(1 Samuel 6:20)

Your ways, O God, are holy. (Psalm 77:13)

Exalt the LORD our God
and worship at his footstool;
he is holy....
You were to Israel a forgiving God,
though you punished their misdeeds.
Exalt the LORD our God
and worship at his holy mountain,
for the LORD our God is holy. (Psalm 99:5, 8–9)

Of course, holiness is not God’s only other attribute, which makes it all the more important that we refuse to reduce Him only to love. But we can distinguish holiness from love, so it serves as a good example. Notice how Joshua appealed to God’s holiness, not His love:

You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you. (Joshua 24:19–20)

To demons, God’s defining characteristic is His holiness. A demon said to Jesus, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24).

Only one attribute of God forms part of the name of a member of God’s triune person—not the Loving Spirit, but the Holy Spirit. The angel announcing Messiah’s incarnation referred to all three members of the Trinity. Note the prominence of God’s holiness and power: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

When Paul alludes to two godlike qualities, the Lord’s righteousness and holiness come to his mind: “Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

God cares as much that we share in His holiness as in His love: “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.... Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:10, 14).

Excerpted from Randy's book If God Is Good .

Photo by Elijah Pilchard on Unsplash

How Can We Keep a Loose Grip on Possessions?

Back in 2019, I was asked to join Kirk Cousins (quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings, and former QB of the Washington Redskins) in doing a fundraiser for Holland Christian Schools, where he interviewed me about various topics close to both my heart and his. One great question he asked was, “How do you keep a loose grip on earthly possessions?”

The idea that our money and possessions belong to us, not God, is a dangerous misconception. Many of our problems begin when we forget that God is the Boss of the universe. But in fact, He is more than the boss; He is the owner.

From beginning to end, Scripture repeatedly emphasizes God’s ownership of everything: “To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it” (Deuteronomy 10:14). When I grasp that I’m a steward, not an owner, it totally changes my perspective. Suddenly, I’m not asking, “How much of my money shall I, out of the goodness of my heart, give to God?” Rather, I’m asking, “Since all of ‘my’ money is really yours, Lord, how would you like me to invest your money today?”

I believe the only way to break our grip on material things is first, to see ourselves as stewards that God has entrusted these money and possessions to, and second, to give. Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). As long as I still have something, I believe I own it. But when I give it away, I relinquish the control, power, and prestige that come with wealth. At the moment of release, the light turns on. The magic spell is broken. My mind clears, and I recognize God as owner, myself as servant, and other people as intended beneficiaries of what God has entrusted to me.

I once loaned a new boom box to our church’s high school group. It came back beat-up and that bothered me. But the Lord reminded me it wasn’t my boom box—it was His. And it had been used to help reach young people. Who was I to complain? I also owned thousands of books that I valued highly. I loaned them out, but it troubled me when they weren’t returned or came back looking shabby. Then I sensed God’s leading to begin a church library. I started looking at the names of those who checked them out, sometimes dozens of names per book. By releasing the books, I was investing in other lives. Suddenly the more worn the book, the more delighted I was. My perspective totally changed.

Christ’s words were direct and profound: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). What we do with our possessions is a sure indicator of what’s in our hearts. Jesus is saying, “Show me your checkbook, your credit card statement, and your receipts for expenditures, and I’ll show you where your heart is.” What we do with our money and possessions doesn’t lie. It is a bold statement to God of what we truly value.

So put your resources, your assets, your money and possessions, your time and talents and energies into the things of God. As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure.  May God’s people be liberated from money- and possessions-love, break the back of materialism through generous giving to the needy, and pursue the lasting pleasures found in knowing and serving Christ.

See more resources on money and giving, as well as Randy's related books, including  Managing God's Money  and Giving Is the Good Life .

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Having Loved Ones in Heaven Makes Our Anticipation of Eternity Stronger Than Ever

Last month I had a conversation over Zoom with Steve Silver of Men’s Golf Fellowship. Steve is a great brother who founded a ministry that uses golf to help men grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Steve’s wife Sandy went to be with Jesus last December, just three months before Nanci died. We can both understand each other’s pain of loss, but also the intense anticipation for and comfort of Heaven now that our wives reside there. Because of the unique way Steve worded some of his questions, they prompted answers I've given to the same questions to come out somewhat differently. He had finished reading the Heaven book, which prompted some of his questions:

What is the difference between the present Heaven and the eternal Heaven?
How are those in Heaven spending their time?
Are our loved ones in Heaven aware of us? Do they think of us?
Who are loved ones in Heaven spending time with? Are they meeting and connecting with those they read about and admired?
Are our loved ones in Heaven getting answers to questions they wondered about here on Earth?
Are those in Heaven able to share their knowledge they had on Earth?
Do those in Heaven miss their loved ones still on Earth?
What will our reunion in Heaven look like?
What does “no more marriage in Heaven” mean for our relationships with those we were married to?
Will our relationships with our earthly spouses still be special?
How has your study of Heaven shaped your perspectives in grief?
What is an appropriate amount of time to give to thinking about Heaven?
How do you want to finish out your remaining years?

Watch our full conversation here:

As I’ve written before, Jesus is Nanci’s best friend and my best friend. She is there with Him, and He is here with me. So Jesus is the bridge that keeps us connected until we live in that new world, with new bodies and minds, that He is preparing for us. The connection I feel to her through Him is profound.

I miss Nanci tremendously, but thinking of her brings me more joy than it does sorrow. I am so genuinely happy for her—so thankful that she finished her life here so well, was so faithful to Jesus, and made such an impact on our family. So as for my grief, there is still missing her, and sometimes heartache and grief, but for the most part, gratitude and an overwhelming sense of God’s grace eclipse regrets and sorrows.

Steve and I talked quite a bit about how our loved ones in Heaven don’t stop caring about their family and friends just because they’re now in the presence of Jesus. Recently there was a special text about one of our grandsons that Nanci would have just been overjoyed to read. She is not here for me to share it with her, but it doesn't mean she's out of the loop. God can do whatever He wants, but in this particular case with her grandson, I strongly suspect that she is aware of it.

We don’t cease to be the people God made us to be when we die. We don’t lose our memories and our love and fondness for our families. And if God lets some people in Heaven know what's going on in some places and times down on Earth, which I believe is clear, shouldn’t we assume He would do that with people related to their beloved children and grandchildren and dear friends? I actually think the burden of proof is on those who do not believe this likely happens, as opposed to those who do believe it.

is it is tough to not share the special emotions and conversations we would be having if Nanci were still here. But again, my belief is that she is actually way more “in the loop” of what God is doing in this world than I am. Heaven is not a place of ignorance, but perspective. This earth is where the great unfolding drama of redemption is happening, and I think the attention of Heaven is often upon that drama. 

For more on the New Earth, see Randy’s book  Heaven . You can also browse our resources on Heaven and additional books.

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Do What It Takes to Have Time with God

Several years ago, when Nanci and I answered questions at the young moms’ gathering at our home church, one of the moms asked, “How do busy people set aside time to rest, reflect, and recharge?” Here are some thoughts about the importance of setting priorities, and saying no even to good things in order to do what’s most important:

In the video, I mentioned my article I wrote years ago: Planned Neglect: Saying No to Good Things So We Can Say Yes to the Best. I said then, and I still believe it to be true: We need to neglect doing the things that countless people want us to do, so that we will be available to do what God wants. Instead of exhausting ourselves doing many secondary things, may we do a few primary things well. And that begins with our daily time with God.

I later wrote a related but not redundant blog: A Lesson Hard Learned: Being Content with Saying No to Truly Good Opportunities. I also wrote on Does It Matter How We Spend Our Free Time? And here’s a short article on understanding the difference between the urgent and the important.  

Finally, years ago I wrote about Mary and Martha in an article: Can’t You See That I’m Busy?

Jesus says to Martha in Luke 10: “Few things are necessary, really only one. Mary has chosen the better portion and it will not be taken from her.” May that be true of us too.

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash

How to Escape the Rut of Discontentment

Nanci and I spoke at our church’s young moms group a number of times, and she was always great. One of the questions we answered when we spoke in 2014 was, “How can I escape the cycle of discontentment? What are some practical ways to stop this cycle?”

Nanci gave some ideas and encouragement, and shared some Scripture:

Nanci talked about perspective, and what we choose to dwell on, rather than our circumstances: “Who you are and where God has placed you are something that He has preordained for you. He knows what’s best for you, and He wants you to be fulfilled.”

Here are some great quotes related to contentment to meditate on:

“Satan loves to fish in the troubled waters of a discontented heart.” —Thomas Watson

“This is the secret of being content: to learn and accept that we live daily by God’s unmerited favor given through Christ, and that we can respond to any and every situation by His divine enablement through the Holy Spirit.” —Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness

“Christian contentment…is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be totally at His disposal in the place He appoints, at the time He chooses, with the provision He is pleased to make.” — Sinclair Ferguson

“For me, true contentment on earth means asking less of this life because more is coming in the next. Godly contentment is great gain. Heavenly gain. Because God has created the appetites in your heart, it stands to reason that He must be the consummation of that hunger.” —Joni Eareckson Tada, Heaven: Your Real Home

“The contented person experiences the sufficiency of God’s provision for his needs and the sufficiency of God’s grace for his circumstances. He believes God will indeed meet all his material needs and that He will work in all his circumstances for his good. That is why Paul could say, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain.’ The godly person has found what the greedy or envious or discontented person always searches for but never finds. He has found satisfaction and rest in his soul.” —Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness

“If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.” —Charles Spurgeon

“Contentment, then, is the product of a heart resting in God. It is the soul’s enjoyment of that peace that passes all understanding. It is the outcome of my will being brought into subjection to the Divine will. It is the blessed assurance that God does all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good.” —A.W. Pink

“Gratitude is a handmaiden of contentment. An ever-growing attitude of gratitude will certainly make us more content since we will be focusing more on what we do have, both spiritually and materially, than on what we do not have. But contentment is more than focusing on what we have.  It is focusing on the fact that all we do have; we have by the grace of God.  We do not deserve anything we have, materially or spiritually. It is all by His grace.” —Jerry Bridges, The Practice of Godliness

“The best time to look for blessings is when you feel like your life is devoid of them. The enjoyment of God’s pleasures is the outworking of genuine trust in the Lord. This demonstrates authentic contentment. It’s the Lord’s quiet, comforting way of informing you that He remains right here. He sits with you through the countless silent blessings He gives every single day.” —Steve Swartz

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When “Blessed” Means “Happy”

Growing up in an unbelieving home, I never heard the word blessed as a child. After I came to Christ, I heard it often. I didn’t know what it meant; I just knew it sounded holy and spiritual. It was “white noise”—one of many undefined church words whose meanings are masked due to frequent use.

Years later, I heard someone say that in passages such as Psalm 1 and the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 and Luke 6, blessed actually means “happy.” If blessed meant “happy,” I reasoned, why had no one told me that in the hundreds of books I’d already read? And if the Hebrew and Greek really meant “happy,” why wasn’t it translated that way in our Bibles? It made no sense.

Then I started digging for the truth. Many years later I dug deeper than ever while researching my book Happiness. My search yielded rich and surprising discoveries.

Happiness Emerges in the Old Testament

To understand the happiness God offers His creatures, there’s no word in Scripture more important than the Hebrew word asher.

Standard Hebrew dictionaries routinely give happy as the closest English equivalent for asher. Nevertheless, it’s most commonly translated “blessed” instead. Proverbs 28:14 is one of many examples: “Blessed is the one who always trembles before God” (NIV).

Commentaries and study notes explain that the person who fears God is happy. But that meaning would not even occur to most people when they see the word blessed. Of course, had asher been translated “happy” here—as it is more than twenty other places in the King James—readers wouldn’t need commentaries or study notes to understand its meaning.

If you played Password or Catch Phrase and the word was happy, you’d win with clues such as “joyful,” “glad,” “cheerful,” and “delighted.” But suppose someone offered you the clue “blessed.” Would happy pop into your mind? More likely you’d respond by saying “fortunate” or “holy.” And when you found out the key word was happy, you’d probably say, “Huh?” and wish for a different partner.

What Does the Word Blessed Mean Today?

There are millions of online references to the “Blessed Virgin Mary.” Do most people suppose this means the “Happy Virgin Mary”? No. They would naturally think of the “Holy Virgin Mary.” Likewise, upon hearing of “the blessed sacrament,” few would think it means “the happy sacrament.”

In the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, the first synonym listed in the definition of blessed is “of, relating to, or being God.” The second definition is “set apart or worthy of veneration by association with God.” The synonyms include “consecrated, hallowed, sacred, sanctified.”

Every definition and synonym cited for blessed relates to holiness. Virtually nothing relates to happiness, though a few dictionaries acknowledge that it once meant “happy.”

I asked people on my Facebook page, “What comes to mind when you hear the word blessed?” More than 1,100 responses followed. Some associated blessed with being covered, favored, or having peace and contentment. Others said that blessed means “lucky.”

About 30 percent of responders mentioned “undeserved favor” from God, similar to the way most people would define grace.

Only 12 percent, roughly one out of nine people, made any mention of happiness, gladness, or joy.

Why Do English Translations Shy Away from the Word Happy?

Since the Hebrew word asher (as well as its complement in Greek, makarios) means “happy,” then why isn’t it consistently translated “happy”?

The simple answer is that when the King James Version translators rendered asher and makarios as “blessed,” readers knew that blessed was a synonym for happy. For several centuries after the KJV was translated, blessedness and happiness remained nearly interchangeable in common speech. This is evidenced by the 1828 edition of Noah Webster’s dictionary, which defined blessed this way: “Made happy or prosperous; extolled; pronounced happy. a. Happy; prosperous in worldly affairs; enjoying spiritual happiness and the favor of God; enjoying heavenly felicity.”

My extensive research and dialogue with Hebrew and Greek scholars left me perplexed about why most translators continue to use the word blessed as a translation of asher and makarios.

Though it most often renders makarios as “blessed,” the literally inclined New American Standard Bible translates Romans 14:22 as “Happy [makarios] is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.”

Why? William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536), a Reformer who translated the Bible into English in the sixteenth century, rendered makarios as “happy” in Romans 14:22, and the KJV followed Tyndale’s example, as it usually did.

But if “happy” is a good translation of makarios here, then why isn’t it translated the same way in the Beatitudes, where Jesus used it with exactly the same sentence construction: “Makarios are the merciful,”? Why do all the major English translations still say, “Blessed are” instead of “Happy are,” despite the fact that in today’s English blessed no longer means “happy”?

The Beatitudes are a commonly known and memorized passage. Many people familiar with the traditional wording would balk at the change, feeling the Bible had been tampered with.

Other Languages Translate Blessed as “Happy”

Experience has shown me that despite all the evidence, some people still push back on the idea that “happy” is the proper translation of asher and makarios. They resist the notion that God is called the “happy God” in 1 Timothy 1 and 6 and that the Beatitudes could be accurately rendered “Happy is the one who . . .”

If this is where you find yourself, perhaps it will be helpful to understand how non-English translations render these words in their own languages.

The United Bible Societies’ New Testament Handbook Series is a twenty-volume set of linguistic insights used by translators worldwide. It helps them best render the New Testament into target languages, including those of people groups who don’t have the Bible in their native languages.

For example, all the bestselling English Bible versions translate John 13:17 similar to the NIV: “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them” (emphasis added). But here’s what the UBS handbook says about makarios in this verse:

In the present passage, as in most other New Testament passages where this Greek word [makarios] occurs, the focus is upon the subjective state of happiness shared by persons who have received God’s blessing. For this reason, the translation “happy” is preferable to “blessed.”

Dozens of similar comments in the UBS handbooks instruct translators worldwide to translate makarios with the closest equivalent to “happy” in their target language.

These guidelines have been followed for decades by innumerable translators. The result is that thousands of people groups all over the world know what relatively few English readers know—that the passages containing makarios (as well as its Old Testament Hebrew equivalent, asher) normally refer to being happy in God. (Wouldn’t that be a great thing for English Bible readers to know too?)

I find it remarkable that all of the top seven bestselling English translations usually translate makarios as “blessed,” not “happy.” This means that English-speaking believers are uniquely vulnerable to the myth that most other Bible readers in the world are immune to: that the Bible says nothing about happiness and neither expects nor calls on us to be happy.

Is Happy a Dangerous Word?

I have heard people say it would be “dangerous” to translate asher and makarios as “happy,” because doing so might “appeal to the flesh.”

But wasn’t it up to God which Hebrew and Greek words would be included in Scripture? If these terms are most accurately translated “happy,” who are we to not do so? Isn’t any Bible teacher capable of explaining that this happiness spoken of in Scripture cannot be found in sin but only in God?

Isn’t it easy enough to balance the call to gladness in God by pointing out that this doesn’t entail merely bubbly gleefulness but that we are to “weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15) and that we can be “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10)?

Speaking about Christ-centered happiness is fully compatible with pointing out the many passages demonstrating that prosperity theology is wrong, that often our life circumstances will be difficult, and that sorrow and grief are also part of the Christian life.

What’s dangerous is not recognizing the happiness in God explicitly revealed in Scripture.

Other Words Have Cultural Baggage

Many good words are commonly misused and watered down. The word holy has lots of baggage too. To countless people, it means being self-righteous, intolerant, and out of touch with reality. Since people routinely misunderstand it, should we no longer use the word holy?

Likewise, love is commonly used in shallow ways, as popular music has long demonstrated. People say they love hamburgers, rock and roll, hairstyles, and YouTube. They “make love” to someone they barely know.

Since the word love has been so twisted and trivialized, should we remove it from Bible translations? Should we stop using the word in our families and churches?

Of course not. Instead, we should clarify what Scripture truly means by love and holiness, as well as terms like hope, peace, pleasure, and yes, happiness. When appropriate, we should contrast the meaning in Scripture with our culture’s superficial and sometimes sinful connotations.

Happiness Is Good News

The secularization of culture has shrunk the common vocabulary of believers and unbelievers. However, happiness is a word that should still convey rich meaning to both groups. Ironically, it’s only some modern believers who devalue happiness while virtually no unbelievers do. No unbeliever says, “What I most want in life is to be blessed.”

Wouldn’t people be more attracted to the gospel if they were told about what Scripture reveals: a happy God and his offer of a deep, abiding happiness in Christ that begins now and goes on forever? I’m convinced they would.

Obviously the offer of happiness alone isn’t the whole gospel. But since God Himself calls the gospel “the good news of happiness” (Isaiah 52:7, ESV, NASB), surely we should see happiness as a vital part of it.

If seekers read in the Beatitudes, “Happy are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” they would probably be struck by the paradox. Happiness and mourning at the same time? How is that even possible?

That’s what Jesus wanted His listeners to realize—He was offering them something counterintuitive, even miraculous, something God given that could never come from human invention or positive thinking.

We desperately need holiness, but it’s happiness we long for. The church shouldn’t retreat from such a significant word that was once central to the vocabulary of God’s people. On the contrary, we should give happiness its proper biblical context, celebrate it, and embrace it as a vital part of the gospel message.

Browse more resources on the topic of happiness, and see Randy’s related books, including Happiness and  Does God Want Us to Be Happy?

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash

Heaven Isn’t Just Consolation, It’s Restoration, the Fulfillment of Our Deepest Hopes and Desires

We long for a return to Paradise—a perfect world, without the corruption of sin, where God walks with us and talks with us in the cool of the day. Because we’re human beings, we desire something tangible and physical, something that will not fade away. And that is exactly what God promises us—a home that will not be destroyed, a kingdom that will not fade, a city with unshakable foundations, an incorruptible inheritance.

God has encouraged me with memories of the conversations Nanci and I enjoyed about the world to come. Nanci had what she called her New Earth bucket list, which included her dream to spend a lot of time by the water, playing with dogs and dolphins and other creatures, enjoying the presence of Jesus directly, face to face, and also in His creation. While of course that doesn’t erase the pain of grief and loss, the eternal focus we enjoyed together has made an incredible difference for me.

When I talk with people who have also lost a loved one, I am struck by how often the promise of the New Earth seems absent from their thoughts. They view Heaven only as consolation and the absence of pain and suffering and sin. It’s as if their best days living with their loved ones in a physical realm are all behind them.

We long not only for consolation, but for restoration and the fulfillment of our deepest desires! As Charles Spurgeon wrote, “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labour, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”

What means so much to me is not just the present Heaven, but the promise of resurrection and the New Earth. It’s the promise of unprecedented, global, overflowing good, not simply the absence of bad.

In keeping with Romans 8 and other passages, God’s original plan for righteous men and women to rule the earth to His glory was not thwarted by Satan in the garden but was purchased by Jesus on the cross. That is the wonderful future we have to look forward to: living eternally as embodied people on the redeemed earth and being face to face with our Savior. I envision Nanci and I both falling to our knees to worship Him in His awesome holiness, and also walking and talking with Him as only best friends do.

My heart overflows as I think about Nanci and how we have, for so long, looked forward to the future Heaven on the New Earth. Imagine living life with the risen Jesus and His risen people on a risen earth! Picture worshiping and eating and drinking and serving and playing and laughing and talking! Nanci’s and my best days really do lie ahead. That’s not wishful thinking. It’s the promise of Jesus, purchased by His death and resurrection.

I dedicated my newly released book, The Promise of the New Earth, to Nanci: “To my beloved bride, now with Jesus. What a privilege, my sweetheart, to have lived this life with you. I so look forward to the wonders and glories we will experience together in the world to come, where joy will be the air we breathe.”

Jesus is the primary, everyone else is secondary. But when you enjoy Him as primary, then it opens the door to more fully enjoy all that is secondary. I can’t wait to see Nanci again and have her show me around the present Heaven, and after the resurrection, when we relocate to the New Earth, for us to experience it for the first time together, in the presence of Jesus. How glorious that will be!

Now available exclusively from EPM: The Promise of the New Earth

The Promise of the New Earth combines solid biblical teaching gleaned from Randy Alcorn’s bestselling book, Heaven, with beautiful photography to create a gift book to be treasured.

Many Christians think about the present Heaven, where Christians go now when they die, but have never considered the future Heaven, after the resurrection, which will be a physical place occupied by physical people who will live forever with Jesus and all those who love Him.

One day, those who know Jesus really will experience Heaven on Earth.

This refreshed version of Randy’s book The Promise of Heaven features all new photographs and some brand-new content. It makes a wonderful gift, especially to those who are grieving or need to learn about our eternal hope in Jesus. Hardcover, 96 pages.

The Promise of the New Earth is available exclusively from Eternal Perspective Ministries for $11.99 (retail $19.99). Purchase 10 or more for $9.99 each.

Read an excerpt and shop now

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash