Hi Kevin,

Yes. In this case you are using God to obtain what you want; you are objectifying God, i.e., reducing him to an object to accomplish your real goal.

Your true end goal should be God. That is, God should be the final target of your desires. Now, admittedly, for most people this is hard to identify with. Most people haven't gotten beyond their earthly and material desires to come to a point where they:

• seek God for the sake of God alone,
• desire God, for the sake of God alone, or even
• understand what it means to desire God, for the sake of God alone.

So, God "sweetens the pot" a little by offering happiness (blessedness, really) to draw us.

So it's not wrong to be drawn by that, but we need to mature to a point where we are seeking God Himself, not the pleasures or happiness he provides.

God provided us with a good example in marriage.

Suppose that a man got married and in that marriage instead of seeking and loving his wife as a person, and enjoying the pleasure that naturally came from the marriage, he sought only the pleasure and used the wife to obtain it. In other words, he saw his wife as a means of fulfilling his desire for pleasure more than as a person to be loved and sought for her own.

Or turn it around:

Suppose your spouse was not so much interested in you, but the pleasure you provided or the work you did around the house or convenience you served?

That's the same way with God.

• If we're trying to use God to obtain pleasure or happiness, that's wrong.
• If on the other hand we seek God and love God first, he will provide the happiness.

Eric

Hi Kevin,

While I agree with Eric, in substance, we don't come to the Father's table because of what's on the table, but rather because of the Father, Himself. We have to be careful not to be overly scrupulous.

Man was made with a desire to be happy. That true happiness is only found in God.

Our desire for God comes from God. Hence seeking to fulfill that desire is not disordered rather it is righteous.

If we wait until our motives are always 100% pure, we'll never do anything right, since the effects of original sin leave us self centered.

Hope this helps,

John

Kevin,

Actually, it's not wrong to seek God for happiness. God is our final end, our fulfillment. He made us that we would be happy fully only with Him. The Baltimore Catechism gave the following (Q&A) question and answer:

We have to seek God for our happiness. We have to seek happiness in God.   The will can only seek what is good for us, what makes us happy. It is not wrong to seek God for our happiness. It is not perfect, but it is not wrong. It is the way God made us.

God will take care of purifying us to improve our love for Him so that it is about Him more purely, but you cannot, in principle, separate the love of God from the bliss of God. In life, God will see to it (and so will the world) that loving God presents difficulties. That is when we have to choose the good of God over what feels good to ourselves but even then we have joy and peace and happiness.

Mary Ann

We are supposed to pursue God for happiness, especially our eternal happiness. There will always be times when God tests us by withdrawing nice feelings, or when fidelity to Him means giving up an earthly happiness, but always with the knowledge that He is the source of true joy.

The Beatitudes express it perfectly. As to your question, no God is not bribing us with happiness so he can get us to come to Him. You are right. God wants us to be happy, and He draws us by the desires of our heart, IF our hearts are turned to Him.

Mary Ann