Rick Warren's Recipe For Happiness

The best way to avoid letting the sorrows of daily life get you down is to avoid being consumed by pop culture, Warren writes, adding that focusing on the eternal will help Christians shake America's obsession with consumerism and fads.

"You can't earn God's approval. You can't earn his love. You can't earn his recognition. God is love, and he loves you unconditionally. If you want to be a happy person, you need to relax in God's grace every day," Warren writes.

Warren goes on to suggest that a dangerous way to lose happiness is by constantly trying to prove that you are worthy of God's love. Such an attitude can result in judgment and feelings of guilt, subsequently removing the happiness from the special relationship a Christian shares with God.

~Rick Warren in "Christian" Post article

The pastor of all things trivial, says don't sweat the small stuff (like one's weight) and certainly don't worry about getting God's approval. Nevermind that he did a whole huge marketing scheme of his unbiblical Daniel's Plan weight program and that his Purpose Driven Life along with his Socialism is nothing but earthly matters designed to distract unsuspecting professing Christians. This is the same man who also denies God's sovereignty over all creation.

Also, we are to guard ourselves carefully, constantly measure ourselves against Scripture to see if we're thinking,much less acting according to Scripture. We are told to aim to please God, not "relax" (code for: Christian anarchy).

1Th 4:1 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

Mat 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Mat 7:22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' Mat 7:23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

1Ti 4:16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

1Co_11:28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 

2Co_13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? 

Gal_6:4 But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. 

1Th_5:21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;

Moreover, happiness is based on circumstances. Joy is based in the Triune God and Scripture as we walk in the light, keeping in step with the Spirit. It is a fruit of the Spirit, not a product of our feelings.