[Faith-talk] Daily Thought for Tuesday, June 3, 2014

[Paul via Faith-talk]

Hello and greetings to you once again on this Tuesday for most of you as this is being written.  I hope that, by God's matchless grace and His providential care, that you are all doing well today.

Some years ago Frana Hamilton wrote an article that I'd like to share with you today.  Again, this was one of last year's submissions, but there are some who haven't read it yet, so for them here it is for the first time.  It is entitled "Some Myths About Happiness" and is rendered as follows:

Myth 1:  My purpose in life is to be happy.  If I am happy, I will feel I have been successful.

That does not square with Scripture.  Revelation 4:11 tells us, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power:  for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."

God created us for His pleasure and glory, not ours.

Myth 2:  I can never be happy if I "miss" the will of God for my life.  Wait a minute.  That sounds like I am missing a bus.  God knows that I am not perfect and that I make mistakes and do some stupid things, but the moment I acknowledge my wrong decision, the heavenly Father stands ready to forgive and to welcome me back into fellowship and into His will.  He does let me bear the consequences of my decisions, though, and that helps me to learn from my mistakes.  If my heart is right, God will use me as He sees fit.

Myth 3:  Another myth that some people buy into is that God instituted marriage to make us happy.  It would be closer to the truth to say that God instituted marriage (which brings both joys and irritations) for my holiness and wholeness.

Myth 4:  A popular myth we hear and read a lot about is that if I have good self-esteem, I will be happy.

In Mark 12:31 Jesus taught that "thou shall love thy neighbour as thyself." This teaches that it is normal and natural and acceptable to love myself.  Loving and accepting myself as a person made in the image of God is certainly the core of self-esteem.  But that is not the whole story.  I must not neglect my neighbor.  I must love him as much as I love myself.

As a teacher I have met a lot of bullies who have high self-esteem, but they esteem themselves better than other people.  Yes, they have self-esteem, but that is not enough.  They need to esteem others as well.

Paul seems to speak to this in Philippians 2:3:  "In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves." So esteeming myself is not enough to make me happy.

I have come to the conclusion that happiness is a by-products of walking in obedience to God.  As I trust and obey Him, loving others, and serving them, witnessing to them, I find that happiness just steals up on me and surprises me.

And there you have Sister Frana Hamilton's article for today, which, along with previous ones, I trust was a blessing to you.

Before I close this message today, here is the answer to Sunday's Bible trivia game.  It is Psalm 94.  Now, if you still have the poem in your files, I would suggest that you read Psalm 94 in your Bible in your preferred translation and method of reading and see if you don't come to the conclusion that Mr. Ford's poem perfectly harmonizes with what the poet wrote.

And now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob just keep us safe, individually and collectively, in these last days in which we live.  Lord willing, tomorrow there will be another Daily Thought message for you.  Your Christian friend and brother, Paul