What Makes You Happy?

What makes you happy? Is there something that you like to do so much, just thinking about it makes you feel happy? I love to eat, so when my wife tells me we are having one of my favorite meals, it picks up my whole day! Maybe there is a person who just makes you laugh, and whenever you think of them, a smile comes to your face. There are a lot of things that make us happy.
In Acts chapter five, we find the apostles very happy. However, to look at their situation, it doesn't seem there was much over which to get excited. They had just been arrested and imprisoned (v. 18) because the religious leaders of Jerusalem were a little put out with their teaching. However, an angel of the Lord miraculously released them from prison (v. 19) and commanded them to return to their preaching in the temple (v. 20). They probably thought it might have been more prudent to lie low for a few days until things cooled off, but they obeyed and went straight to the temple first thing in the morning (v. 21).
Imagine the looks on the faces of the religious leaders when the reports came in that the disciples of Jesus were once again preaching in the temple! They arrested the disciples once again (v. 26) and called them in, asking why they dared to disobey their command. Peter, speaking for the apostles, was frank: "We ought to obey God rather than men" (v. 29). He proceeded to once again affirm the deity of Jesus Christ, the guiltiness of the Jewish leaders in his death, and salvation through Christ alone.
After some deliberation, the religious leaders decided to beat them and then release them. In verse 41 we read, "And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." Did you get that? They had just been arrested twice (in as many days), beaten (for doing nothing wrong), and then released and told not to preach about Jesus Christ anymore. And they left rejoicing!
They were rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to suffer. They were pleased that God had entrusted them with the privilege of suffering for him. Not only were they willing to suffer shame and physical mistreatment for Jesus Christ, they were pleased that God had considered them worthy to suffer.
I think our values are considerably skewed from those of the apostles. We feel like martyrs if somebody thinks we are weird because we go to church! These men were beaten and thankful that God allowed them to suffer for him. Would that make you happy?