I read something recently that said that ‘we live in the first era of history that considers happy endings to be works of inferior art.’ Apparently, modern critics look down their noses at novels or movies that end ‘happily ever after’.

But what do critics know? I’m not so convinced it’s what the rest of us think.

In fact, I suspect the vast majority of the films you’ve watched or the books you’ve read over the holiday period ended well. I’m not talking about cheesy or superficial happy endings here, but about things coming together in a way that leaves us satisfied, contented even. And isn’t there something deeply unsatisfactory, even off-putting about an ‘unhappy’ ending? We think, ‘aargh, it shouldn’t have ended like that.’ We want the story to end in a way that leaves us feeling right about it.

We want the bride to fall into the arms of her man (ok, maybe that is cheesy). We want the grandfather to be able to die surrounded by his family. We want the couple on the verge of breakup to find one another again, and in so doing to find something deeper. We want the Special Forces operation to succeed. We want the good to triumph over the evil, the good guys over the villains. We want to know the contentment of a job well done, even in the face of sacrifice.

In fact, there is something deep inside us that longs for a happy ending. We don’t want the story to finish broken, we want things to come right.

Well, the Bible speaks to that deepest desire: the desire for things to come together and end well. It tells us that we’re made in the image of God, in a world that was once perfect but now lies broken. And we long for it to be put right again, for everything to end well. And the gospel is about just that: that in Christ God is bringing everything together, putting everything right, for the ultimate happy ending.

And in the end, it is only in Him that the deeper desire under your desire can be satisfied. But I doubt you’ll ever hear that from the critics.