No right to happiness

Lewis talks about weather or not we have the right to happiness. He says that although we legally have a right to the pursuit, we don't have the actual right to happiness. We don't have the moral right to happiness. Political rights and moral God-given rights are completely different.

The law gives us rights to obtain freedom, and the pursuit of happiness by any means as long as it is in a lawful way. Not having the right to happiness and not being able to obtain it are different though. God gifts us with his grace. He gives us the ability to be happy, to find means of being happy. We don't have the right though. If something such as killing or raping someone makes us happy, do we have the right to that means of becoming happy? No, we don't. Lewis makes this argument with a similar example about marriage. The woman was unhappy with her marriage and divorced because she needed to find happiness. Although this is lawful, it is not morally right.

God does command us to be joyful in everything though. Joy and happiness are not the same. God gives us the right to joy and we are to not only be joyful, but to spread it to others. Happiness should not be used as a motive to do anything. This is why Lewis explains we don't have the right to happiness.