Take 10 seconds and think about how you would answer this question if a middle schooler asked you, “Is God happy without me?”

Although there are a plethora of bumper stickers that would answer with an emphatic, “Absolutely not! God would be miserable without you!” I believe the Biblical answer is, “Yes. God is perfectly happy without you and that is great news.”

I will have Fred Sanders show you how the doctrine of the Trinity makes that so and why it’s fantastic…

The doctrine of the Trinity expels a host of unworthy ideas about God’s love. The tri-personal love of God is not a love that needs any completion. Consequently, we should avoid presenting the gospel in a way that suggests God is begging us to come back home so He can finally be happy again, as if our redemption repairs a breach that ruptures the (happiness) of God. It is unworthy of the glorious gospel of the blessed God to give the impression that we are begging for people to please be reconciled to God so His life won’t be ruined by sadness. It is an alienation of affections to think that the love at the heart of the universe is a romantic love in which the creature yearns for the Creator or in which God yearns for the souls of the lost. (The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything, p. 95-96).

Do you see that? The good news is not that God is miserable without you so He sent Jesus to bring you back and restore his joy. No. The good news is that God is happy without you; perfectly and abundantly happy. BUT, in His abundant happiness and in love for you He sent the One He loves so you may love Him more than anyone.

The good news is God is happy without you, but that, in Christ, He offers you to join Him in His eternal happiness. God does not beg and plead for us to restore His joy, He calls for us to receive His joy. Loving not out of need, but abundance. God is not looking to gain happiness from you. He is looking to give you His own happiness.

We come to Him in our sorrow and He comes to us in His happiness…