When I was a young adult, having fun usually involved going out with my friends to a bar or a club to dance and to drink. We had a great time, but there were always consequences to be paid. Sometimes the consequences were relatively minor, like a hangover or a broken budget. Other times more serious consequences might occur like the loss of one’s dignity or reputation. All of this was the cost we paid for the pursuit of fun, and we paid it willingly.
When I joined the Church, my family and friends chastised me, thinking I was going to turn into a sour, boring fuddy-duddy. “You can’t even have a drink?” they’d ask. They refused to believe I could think life could be fun without having a drink now and then. I felt it in my gut at the time, but now I know it to be true: giving up sin is getting freedom and freedom brings happiness.
Book of Mormon prophet, Alma, declared: “Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10) You cannot feel happy, truly happy, when you are simultaneously feeling guilt or shame because of your behavior, or when your senses are dulled by alcohol or drugs.
Our Father in Heaven created us to be happy. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “Happiness is the object and design of our existence; and will be the end thereof, if we pursue the path that leads to it.” (History of the Church, 5:134.)
Jack H. Goaslind, in his article entitled “Happiness,” in the May 1985 Ensign, wrote:
“Our yearnings for happiness were implanted in our hearts by Deity. They represent a kind of homesickness, for we have a residual memory of our premortal existence. They are also a foretaste of the fulness of joy that is promised to the faithful. We can expect with perfect faith that our Father will fulfill our innermost longings for joy. In fact, the plan he has given to guide us is called “the plan of happiness.” (Alma 42:16) In the meridian of time, it was heralded by angelic messengers as “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)”
This explanation of our desire for happiness is the best I have ever read and answers for my own mind why all people yearn for happiness so deeply. It’s a part of who each and every one of us is, no matter the circumstances of our life. And so when we succumb to sin, it’s all the more tragic because the commission of sin is in direct violation to our souls’ innermost desire.
The wonderful news is that it is not too late to forsake our sins and experience the sweet joy that can be ours if we will repent. Not only will you feel a sort of freedom, like I felt, but you’re senses will be heightened and the potential for fun – everywhere – will be made visible to you.
And the only consequence you’ll have to pay is a fullness of joy in the life to come.
