("I'm Fine Thank You" - Author Unknown)

But the "feel good" that goes with religion is not primarily physical, but emotional, although the condition of our bodies can affect how we feel.

Even so, we understand that there are different kinds of happiness:

There's the joy of satisfaction that comes with a job well done.
There's a happiness generated through humor and entertainment.
There's the joy of contentment, or an absence of turmoil.
There's the joyful celebration of victory whether in sports, war or office competition.
There's a party generated happiness with lots of laughter and liquor.
There's delight in finding something that was lost.
There's a relationship joy that comes with true intimacy between lovers.
And there's the pleasure upon receiving an unexpected gift.

Some Christians seem to hold to a kind of magical concept that says that becoming a Christian instantly provides all of these kinds of happiness - everything is peaches and cream, "the grass so green the sky so blue," "O what a beautiful morning, o what a beautiful day." Most of us stand by and comment "what's he on" or "there must be something wrong because I'm not always flying so high."

Of course there are also the wrong kinds of joy - gloating over other people's suffering, or sadistic humor enjoyed at someone else's expense.

To be honest, sometimes among Christians there seems to be a lack of honesty - when there is sadness, sorrow, depression, disappointment, or anxiety, we won't admit it because then we're afraid we'll be judged as being sub-Christian, so we practice denial and label it faith.

I think Jesus' words were meant to be heard by Disciples of all ages when He said, "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." (John 16:20)

So yes, there is to be rejoicing for the Christian, the "feel good" religion is part of our experience, but not the only part. The Christian must be prepared to accept both joy and grief. Further evidence of this is found in Paul's advice, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." (Romans 12:15)

But for a few moments, I want to get off the subject about our own emotional condition, our own longing for a "feel good" religion and ask, "But what about God?" We're talking about "feel good" religion that is only about us feeling good, shouldn't "feel good" religion be about making God feel good?

While I was thinking about these things, I received an email question from a lay minister in the Philippines, "Can God feel emotion?"

We all know from Scripture that we are created in the image of God, and this suggests that there are similarities between us and our Creator. However, there must be some caution with this because there's a constant temptation for us to create God in our image, using what are called anthropomorphisms - attempts at understanding God by describing Him using human attributes.

Forgive the comparison, but it's much like what we do with animals - we talk about our pets like we talk about humans (some people even talk to their pets, perhaps preferring that to talking with humans because pets usually don't talk back). Some people think their small dogs actually like being dressed in pretty little sweaters. My wife and I once visited a family whose poodle had an assigned seat at the dining room table. Haven't you ever heard a pet being called with these words, "Come to mommy."

I've noticed that it goes the other way also - people are described by animal characteristics. We say that he is sly as a fox, she's catty, he's strong as an ox, she's quiet as a mouse, he's clumsy as an elephant; she eats like a bird, she sings like a canary, he gives everyone a bear hug, he's as wise as an owl. Here's a cute short poem about the owl:

There once was an owl who lived in an oak.
The more he saw the less he spoke.
The less he spoke the more he heard.
Why can't we be like that wise old bird?

When it comes to anthropomorphisms relating to God, we understand that it has to do with physical characteristics - Jesus said God is a spirit, and therefore he doesn't actually have arms, fingers, eyes, or a heart, and it may come as a surprise - He doesn't have a throne or a footstool.

However, when it comes to the non-material aspects, it is reasonable to understand that spiritual/emotional attributes of God are mirrored in us who are created in His image.

So, going back to the question, "Can God feel emotion?" - If indeed we are like God, and He has created us to be emotional beings, then it is not a stretch to view God as also being emotional. In fact, the Bible attributes many emotions to God. The two most obvious ones are love and anger, but the two emotions I wish to address are what we've been talking about, joy and grief.

The Bible clearly indicates that God knows the emotion of joy.

Before he died, Moses told the people of Israel, "The LORD rejoices over His people." (Deuteronomy 28:63; 30:9)

Twice, the Psalmist hears God speak this phrase, "I will rejoice" (Psalms 60:6; 108:7), and tells us that God "brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness." (Psalms 105:43)

When David commissioned the temple musicians, he proclaimed, "Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place." (I Chronicles 16:27)

Isaiah tells us that God says, "I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people" (Isaiah 65:19), and employs the analogy of the wedding: "As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." (62:5)

Jeremiah records God saying, "Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good." (32:41)

And there's this favorite verse for many, "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

We believe that Jesus is the full expression of God, so it's fair to say that if Jesus rejoiced, so does His Father.

The writer of Hebrews, in his opening exaltation of Jesus, quotes from Psalms 45:76 and says, "God has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy." (Hebrews 1:9)

And Jesus pictures Himself as the Good Shepherd who goes out looking for the lost lamb, "And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders." (Luke 15:5 - "And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." - KJV)

Luke quotes Psalms 16:9 when he reports the Messiah saying, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay." (Acts 2:26, 27)

Right after Jesus told His disciples not to ". . .rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven," Luke reports that "Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.'" (Luke 10:20, 21)

So it is clear that God can and does experience the emotion of joy. But not only does God feel joy, He also feels grief.

The Psalmist indicated this when he cried, "How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland!" (Psalms 78:40)

We usually think of Jeremiah as the weeping prophet, but God does His own grieving and laments, "As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually is grief and wounds." (Jeremiah 6:7)

Perhaps Paul, who, like Jesus, often referred to Jeremiah, had this in mind when he implored, "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4:30)

It was the prophet Isaiah who foretold that Jesus, the Messiah would be ". . . despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief." (Isaiah 53:3) A few verses later he continues "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. . . ." (53:10)

Jesus fulfilled this as related by Matthew when he reported that Jesus said to His disciples, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." (Matthew 26:38)

Again, if Jesus the Son is the full expression of God the Father, then we clearly understand that God is a God who grieves as well as rejoices.

Now going back to our thoughts about "feel good" religion, we're saying that we should stop demanding that our relationship with God make us feel good, but rather we should be doing what is necessary to make God feel good, to relieve His grief and expand His joy.

How? First, simply by believing, because Scripture says, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." Obviously this is a double negative; to turn it positive it would simply say, "Faith gives God pleasure."

Second, we will reduce God's grief and expand His joy when we simply do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God.

The truth is that if it's "feel good" religion that we want, perhaps that's what we'll get - that's all we'll get.

Surely you remember the Old Testament story about the Children of Israel in the wilderness who didn't want manna, and God gave them quail; but look what happened.

When they began to crave other food, they cried, "If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" (Numbers 11:4-6)

Moses became very frustrated and complained to the Lord, saying,

"Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, `Give us meat to eat!' I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now -- if I have found favor in your eyes -- and do not let me face my own ruin."

After God responds to Moses' weary complaint by advising him to commission elders for shared leadership, and then promises to provide a better menu, Moses continues,

"Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot, and you say, `I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!' Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?" (vs.14, 15 21, 22)

So God assures Moses that He will provide, and Moses goes back and tells the people, "The LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month -- until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it -- because you have rejected the LORD." (vs.18-20)

Sure enough, the Bible goes on to describe what happened: "A wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them down all around the camp to about three feet above the ground, as far as a day's walk in any direction. All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail."

The story is concluded with this sad note, "while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed," a severe plague broke out and a large number of people died there. "Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah ("graves of craving"). (vs.31-34)

The message is simple and clear - if we want something badly enough, and if we keep begging Him, God just might give it to us, even though it will end up doing great harm.

Here's the application to what we've been talking about, "feel good" religion - if we want and clamor for it, we just might get it, and even while the taste is still in our mouths, trouble will come and because our relationship with God is based on our emotions, we'll have no way to withstand it.

Perhaps it is true that the Book of Ecclesiastes was written by a tired, pessimistic, old man, but it still contains important truths. Listen to what it says: "Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." (Ecclesiastes 7:3, 4)

Yes, joy is a wonderful gift of God that is frequently offered to those who put their trust in Jesus. But let's remember it is a gift, not a right, and it will not be pure until we taste it in the heavenly kingdom. In the meantime, He gives both joy and sorrow, and each has its own special benefits.

Kahlil Gibran (1/6/1883 - 4/10/1931) was a Christian poet from Lebanon whose writings became quite popular in the decade of the 60s. Most notably was his collection called "The Prophet" written in 1923, and ultimately translated into 20 languages.

Few people know that it was a line in Gibran's writings that inspired John F. Kennedy's often quoted sentence in his 1961 inaugural address. In 1925 Gibran wrote an article, "The New Frontier," which included these statements: "Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert."

Previously, in 1914 Gibran had written a collection titled "A Tear and a Smile" - it was translated from the Arabic in 1976. Here's a portion of the opening poem bearing the same title.

Then please allow me to quote from this same poet, a piece from the more widely read book, "The Prophet."

Let's stop striving for a "feel good" Christianity, but rather let's accept whatever God sends our way, and may we have the grace to avoid boasting in the glad days as though they came to us because of our own goodness, and may we have the grace to avoid bitterness in the bad days as though we deserved better because we are so good.

And may we have the grace to continue striving during the glad and the bad so as to bless God by our faithfully doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly before our God.

When our children were in elementary school, we lived just a block away from the school. Often, when they were heading out the door in the morning, I would give them this parting word, "Make your teacher smile." Today I say to us all, "Make your Master smile."

1. Compared with other major world religions, Christianity could be described as the "happy religion." Why?

2. If our US Constitution can only promise the right to pursue happiness, can Christianity guarantee the right to happiness itself?

3. Why didn't Jesus agree to the proposition of His disciples to take up residence on the Mount of Transfiguration?

4. At what point may we expect to fully experience the pure joy promised in the Gospel?

5. What are some of the different kinds of happiness we may experience during our daily lives?

6. What are some wrong kinds of happiness?

7. How can hypocrisy interact with happiness?

8. What are "anthropomorphisms"? Give examples relating to both God as well as to animals.

9. How would you answer the email question, "Can God feel emotion?"

10. What are some evidences that God knows the emotions of joy and grief?

11. How does the story Jesus told about the shepherd relate to the expression of joy?

12. Why did Jesus rejoice because God had "hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children"?

13. How might someone grieve the Holy Spirit? (Ephesians 4:30)

14. How does faith and Micah's verse - "do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God" relate to "feel good" religion?

15. When the wilderness wandering Jews complained about only having manna to eat, God provided a month's worth of meat. Why was this not good?

16. Kahlil Gibran, a Christian poet from Lebanon inspired John F. Kennedy's often quoted sentence in his 1961 inaugural address. What was the late President's famous line?