Review: The Happy Christian (Ten Ways to be a Joyful Believer in a Gloomy World)

This is a review of Dr. David Murray’s new (2015) book, The Happy Christian.

After my review of a previous book by the same author, Jesus on Every Page, Dr. Murray’s personal assistant contacted me and graciously offered me a copy of this book to review. It took me a while to get this review up, but here it is at last!

The title of the book pretty much explains the topic. David Murray is concerned about the lack of joy in the Church, and has set out to help us listen to Jesus say,“Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad” (Matthew 5:12).

Murray uses what he calls “spiritual math” throughout the book, which basically has to do with adding the positive and subtracting the negative.

And actually, I had the feeling that the book was all about “expansion” and “making your world bigger”. What do I mean? Well, you know how the struggles of life can feel like “pressure” – making you hold things close, keeping you from venturing out, closing your mind. Murray wants us to feel the freedom that we have in the Lord and in the Gospel to be generous, forgiving, adventurous, and – well, happy!

I’ve often put a semantic distinction between a deep “joy” from God and a superficial, fleeting “happiness”. Murray tends to combine the two ideas. And after all, enjoying the moment isn’t a bad thing, even if it’s temporary. So while some may write off the book because of the title, their judgement would probably be a little too hasty.

Here’s what the author himself has to say in the introduction:

Christianity doesn’t deny the difficult and painful reality of sin and suffering that runs through our lives, but with one vertical line from heaven to earth, with the incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity promises to change the equation of our lives into a positive result. … I’ve written The Happy Christian to help you live a powerfully optimistic and meaningful life in an increasingly pessimistic culture. I hope to persuade you that through daily faith in Jesus Christ, there is a way to overcome the deadly plague of negativity that’s infecting our whole culture and rapidly spreading through the church.

Murray takes us through ten lessons to help us recover our joy. He includes topics such as dealing with the inundation of negative media that we all experience, understanding the Gospel, and recognizing God’s work throughout the world and in every person in it.

We have all swallowed bits of falsehood that tends to steal our joy. Murray wants to free us from many of these beliefs – some of which seem very spiritual at first – that keep us from being joyful. Many times it’s just a lack of balance.

To use an example of my own, are we convinced of the truth that “the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1John 5:19), but do we forget that our God is in control (1Chronicles 29:11-12), and that even the wicked bear His image, and demonstrate His glory?

This concept is actually very important to this book, because Murray feels free to find truth everywhere. Although solidly biblically based, the book generously draws on contemporary research and modern psychology to further demonstrate each point.

I’m not sure if Murray has struck the right balance here. Although I would agree that “all truth is God’s truth” (as the saying goes), very often the quotes have a lot of background behind them that would not really fit with what he’s saying, or he quotes from ideas that are very controversial.

An odd example of this is in a section about “meditation”. Although Murray takes a very biblical stance on meditation, he quotes studies which are based on types of meditation that he apparently wouldn’t accept, such as shamatha meditation (pg 42).

This is perhaps a minor point, in the sense that if you didn’t know this study or that author you probably wouldn’t even notice.

That aside, Murray ends up giving us a very biblical, positive view of a life lived in the light of the Gospel, in the light of faith in a sovereign God, in the light of the glory of God that fills the earth (Isaiah 6:3). He gives practical suggestions to help the normal, busy Christian actually find more joy in every day life.

Some of those suggestions are easier to follow than others. Toward the end of the book, Murray confesses his fight with his own prejudiced attitudes, and how God helped him change and grow. Joy is not always in easy lifestyle changes – it’s also in dealing with suffering, repenting of sin, and self discipline.

I should mention one more thing that I’ve noticed in Murray’s writings before, and that I noticed again in The Happy Christian. Murray tends to focus directly in on the American context, and speak almost exclusively to American Christians.

Now that is probably the majority of his audience, and I understand some of the reasons why he does it. But Dr. Murray is an immigrant to the USA himself, has travelled, and has a unique opportunity to speak to a much wider audience. I think there are times when he is unnecessarily excluding people who would benefit from his insight.

That being said, this chapter on racism, prejudice, and diversity, is clearly, intentionally, and understandably written to an American audience. There is, of course, racism all around the world. But the United States does have its unique challenges (as does every country), and Murray takes the time to address those.

The chapter almost seems out of place in the book, but it is important and helpful (even if a non-American has to “translate” it to fit their context).

David Murray has learned to weave together facts and stories and Scripture to make his points memorable and practical. In fact, I have already put to practical use some thoughts from the book.

In the end, I think that most Christians would benefit from a tour through this book. The chapters can easily be read one by one as you have time.

The Happy Christian is not about ignoring reality and “creating” a positive world with your optimism. It’s about learning to think about the world – even the suffering in the world – in a God-centred, biblical way. And after all, doesn’t it make sense that a God of joy would have given us the keys to be joyful ourselves?