Pastors Thoughts
Summer will soon be in full swing. The weather is getting warmer. The crops are being sown. The fruit trees have budded and soon will bear much fruit. What are you looking forward to the most this summer? What are your plans? Where will you go? What will you do? Here is my encouragement: Throughout this summer walk closely attached to your Savior Jesus Christ and bear for him much fruit.
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WELS Daily Devotions
The Secret of True Happiness
Be Thankful.
The Scottish pastor John Watson called on a man from his church who had just suffered a heavy financial setback. Totally crushed by his economic losses, the man exclaimed, "Everything is gone!" Without hesitation Watson answered, "Oh, I’m sorry to hear that your wife is dead." The man looked up in alarm and questioned the pastor, "My wife?" The minister continued, "I’m doubly grieved to hear that you have also lost your character." Watson named one valuable asset after another, till the man protested, saying that he still possessed the things the pastor had mentioned. "But I thought you said you lost everything!" replied Watson. Then in a tone of mild and loving rebuke he exhorted, "Brother, come to your senses! You’ve lost none of the things that are really worthwhile!"
Colossians 3:15
And how much did you lose from the fall of the stock market? Did this loss affect your ability to give thanks to God this Thanksgiving? Will this loss affect your ability to celebrate Christ’s coming this Christmas or your ability to prepare yourself for that day when Christ will come again?
Do you realize that many Christian have been blessed very modestly in their material possessions? Indeed, some Christians have suffered the lose of everything - even their own lives - just because they took up the cross of Christian discipleship and followed Jesus. Many of the early Christians were slaves who had nothing that they could call their own. Their privileges were as few as the pleasures they were able to experience in life. Yet - perhaps surprisingly - Paul doesn’t offer them his sympathy. Rather he sets before them the secret to a truly happy life - regardless of the circumstances of life. The secret to true happiness in life is to be thankful for everything that God has given to you in life and will yet give you in the life which is to come.
One man put it this way:
Count your blessings - name them one by one;
Do you want to be truly happy? Then express true thankfulness to God every day for the blessings he does give you. Spiritually every day God gives you the assurance of his forgiveness, of his peace, of his loving presence, of his working everything for your eternal good. Physically every day the blessings of God may change. One day you may be healthy, the next sick. One day may be normal, the next day may bring a time of crisis or trouble. Some days it may be easier to be thankful than on others. But every day can be a day of true happiness when you are confident that the loving hand of God lies behind everything that happens to you in life.
Christian, be thankful. This is one of the secrets to true happiness. It is not the happy people who are thankful but the thankful people who are happy. Happiness doesn’t depend on what you have, else those who have the most would be the most happy. But that’s not the case. Happiness does not depend on what you have; it rather depends on the faith and trust you have in the God of your salvation. Christian, be thankful. No one who murmurs is ever really happy. No one who worries is ever really happy. Those who forget God and leave him out of their daily lives will never have a truly cheerful heart - especially in the day of trouble. But those who ponder again and again the love of God as revealed in the coming and birth and life and death and resurrection of their Savior Jesus Christ will be able to recognize God’s loving hand in everything that happens.
Count your blessings - see what God has done;
Count your blessings - name them one by one;
Count your many blessings - see what God has done.
Such people every day can respond to God with joyful expressions of worship and praise. So, Christian, learn to recognize the hand of God in your every day life and be thankful. Be thankful for the many blessings of life God does give you every day and you will be blessed with a happy heart for time and for eternity.