{"id":57076,"date":"1997-03-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1997-03-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/happiness-is-our-response\/"},"modified":"1997-03-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"1997-03-01T00:00:00","slug":"happiness-is-our-response","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/happiness-is-our-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Happiness Is Our Response"},"content":{"rendered":"

God … does not lavish his children with a jolly discipleship so that they may swim in spiritual ecstasy between conversion and death. God is a giver, but he does not give happiness. He gives redemption, meaning, security, love, victory, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And happiness is our response to his gifts.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3749,3793,4054,4089,4117,4303,4916,5048],"tax_ctp_topics":[378,384],"class_list":["post-57076","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-dedication","tax_ctp_tags-discipleship","tax_ctp_tags-gifts-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-grace-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-happiness","tax_ctp_tags-joy","tax_ctp_tags-self-discipline","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-gifts"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nHappiness Is Our Response - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/happiness-is-our-response\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Happiness Is Our Response - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God … does not lavish his children with a jolly discipleship so that they may swim in spiritual ecstasy between conversion and death. 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