Happiness is Believing

If you met someone who had recently placed their faith in Christ, what would you say to them?  The New Testament is actually full of answers to this question, but the first answer given chronologically is interesting.  Mary, who has surrendered her whole life in complete faith to God, went to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  Elizabeth, of course, had good news of her own.  After years without having a child and being past the age of child bearing she was having her own son.  Now when Mary came she made this statement in her greeting to her, “Blessed is she who believed.”  That is the same word that is used in the Beatitudes that is translated “Happy”. 

Happiness didn’t mean a perpetually easy time was ahead for Mary.  Joseph was planning to put her away.  She was going to be mocked as immoral.  She would face having a child out of wedlock and be kicked out of her good Jewish home.  That was what lay ahead for Mary if God hadn’t intervened with Joseph.  Still, word was out that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock and that would follow her for years in that small community.  In the temple, when Jesus was presented two months after His birth, Simeon, a man of great faith, said to Mary regarding Jesus, “A sword will pierce through your own soul also.” 

This was no giddy happiness that comes from winning a blue ribbon at the state fair.  This was happiness of a deeper and richer kind.  It was the quiet happiness of a great relationship.  It was all the comfort and peace and hope that such a relationship brings to our lives.  It was an assurance of something that would last even beyond this life.  It would prove to be a happiness that would have to endure pain and only deepen in the doing so.  That was the happiness that came from believing God’s promise to her when the angel said, “Rejoice, Mary, God fills you with His grace and you find favor with Him.”  She believed the message and Elizabeth said, “Happy are you who believed.”  That is what we can say to each new believer.  It is a true statement. 

Let us consider these fitting words by Philip Doddridge.  “O happy day that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God! Well may this glowing heart rejoice, and tell its raptures all abroad.  Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away!  He taught me how to watch and pray, and live rejoicing every day.  Happy day, happy day, when Jesus washed my sins away.”  They sang this song the night I was saved.  It was a happy day!  

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

Happiness in Persecution

Have you ever hated someone?  Don’t be super spiritual and say, “I would never do that.”  How did that hatred make you feel?  Were you happy while you hated?  Look at Haman in the book of Esther.  He hated Mordecai and although he had it all in human terms, his hatred of Mordecai left him unhappy.  Hatred leaves unpleasant burning bile in our stomachs.  When seeing someone makes us so unhappy that we could spit nails, we know that we are not happy.  The Pharisees and Sadducees who persecuted Jesus were not happy.  Herod was not happy.  Pilate was not happy.  The only person who was filled with the calmness of God and the happiness of purpose was Jesus. 

Jesus warned us that if we follow Him we should expect the world to not like us.  He was adamant on this point.  In John 15:18-19 He said, "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  That is pretty clear.  Yet Jesus also said, “Blessed (happy) are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  In the face of anger and hatred, which leaves the persecutor with no peace, the believer is to find a quiet happiness in being identified with the King of kings and having the assurance that Jesus is right there with them. 

We don’t have to be stoned by a mob to be persecuted.  Our faith can bring us into ridicule by the wicked.  It can cost us that promotion because we didn’t agree to schmooze with others that may have been engaged in some ungodly behavior.  Instead of cursing the darkness, we need to see the presence of Jesus beside us and be happy with His smile of approval.  Every time we are identified for being obedient to Christ and disliked for it, we should smile.  If we could just Jesus beside us smiling at us, wouldn’t a right response be to smile back?  Happy are the persecuted, not because they suffer but because they find themselves in good company with their Savior.  His smiling face should evoke a similar response from us. 

We will conclude our look at the Beatitudes with the final verse of Isaac Watts’ hymn, “Blessed Are the Humble Souls That See”  “Blest are the suff’rers who partake of pain and shame for Jesus’ sake; their souls shall triumph in the Lord; glory and joy are their reward.”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

Peacefully Happy

The League of Nations couldn’t do it.  The United Nations can’t do it.  Amnesty International won’t get it done.  All of the pot smoking, V flashing hippies of the 60’s didn’t make a dent in it.  John Lennon’s classic hit didn’t do it.  None of these things brought peace or will bring peace.  Why not?

In the first generation of mankind outside of the Garden of Eden we find the first recorded murder in human history.  Murder is part of sin as is greed and pride and all the host of things that most inspire the world to go to war.  Men fight for the greed of territory with raw materials.  They fight for the pride of country.  They fight simply because they hate other people.  The ones that they fight then fight back.  Men cannot change the visible problem until they change the inner problem.  We are sinners and do sinful things that lead to a world in turmoil, nations in turmoil, neighborhoods in turmoil and families in turmoil. All this turmoil comes from hearts in turmoil.  We need to start at the heart.  We need to bring peace there first.

Jesus said, “Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God”.  You see, God is in the peace making business.  God could be perpetually at war with mankind since we are constantly offending Him and breaking His laws.  He could be, but He isn’t.  God reached out to mankind through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ.  Instead of being at war with us, God has given to us the means of reconciliation.  God has reconciled us to Himself through His Son.  He made the overture of peace at the cost of His own Son’s cruel death on Calvary.  That is truly peacemaking.  Now all who come to God through faith in His Son have peace with God.  But wait!  There’s more.  God has given a job to those who come to Him.  He has appointed them to be reconcilers as well.  That means that those who know Christ are fully commissioned as peace makers. 

This peace will come to one person at a time as they believe in Him and find peace in their heart that will transform their families, their neighborhoods, their nations and the world.  Again we turn to Isaac Watt’s great hymn rendition of the Beatitudes.  “Blest are the men of peaceful life, who quench the coals of growing strife; they shall be called the heirs of bliss, the sons of God, the God of peace.”  Let us all let Christ make a peaceful difference in our lives each day. 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

Happiness in Purity

When I was a kid the Ivory Soap commercial ran, “It’s so pure it floats!”  Purity rose to the top.  That Ivory Soap was 99 44/100% pure was always a mystery to me.  It was 99 44/100% pure what?  God is not calling us to be 99 44/100% pure; He is calling us to be 100% pure.  Pure is pure.  But since the Beatitudes are not a lesson in how to get saved but are a lesson in Kingdom living, what does 100% pure and seeing God mean?

First we all have to admit that none of us can attain 100% purity.  Since pure is pure and not partly pure, and the passage calls for pure, it means completely and unadulterately pure.  So, how do we achieve the impossible?  The only way to get the impossible done is to have God do it.  Remember what He said, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jer. 32:27)  If we want purity we must go to Him that is pure.  When Jesus was transfigured the Bible comments on His appearance, “And his clothes became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” (Mark 9:3)  This was divine clothing, purer than anything that man could produce.  This is akin to the promise that God gave to Israel through Isaiah, “Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool’.”  (Isa. 1:18)  This was an offer God was making to an impure people.  Come to me and I will make you clean.

If we want to come to God we must come with honesty. We must come admitting our own dirtiness.  We must come asking to be cleansed and He will.  When the dirt is off our soul and out of our spiritual eyes, we will see God.  We will see His glory and rejoice in His love.  We will be filled with gratitude for His grace.  We will be eager to see the work that He has done and the work He has for us to do.  We will see God and be filled with a happiness that is incomprehensible and without a fading away.  We will love His Kingdom and we will be happy to serve in it. 

James Nicholson wrote the popular hymn “Whiter than Snow”.  It clearly testifies that our purity cannot come from within.  Only He can wash us whiter than snow.  “Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole; I want Thee forever to live in my soul. Break down every idol, cast out every foe; now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Whiter than snow, yes, whiter than snow, now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”  In the joy of our new cleanness we will see the joy of our loving God. 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

Happily Serving

Have you ever been injured or in the hospital and have someone show you particular love or mercy?  How did that make you feel?  Were you ever let off with a warning instead of a ticket?  How did that make you feel?  We feel comforted and safe when someone shows us mercy.  You might say that we feel happy.  Wouldn’t it be nice to pass that on?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”  This is not a quid pro quo system.  We can’t expect to earn or merit mercy by being merciful.  We can’t expect that from God or man.  If so we would have a works religion contrary to the clear teaching that our hope in God is by faith and not by works.  But it is relational and that is important to our happiness.

What we want in our lives, or should want in our lives, is a clearer picture and understanding of God.  We want to see God working in our lives.  We want to know Him more than intellectually.  We want our faith to be alive and vibrant.  As we obey Him we will find the reality of His care for us more real.  He has not saved us on the basis of any particular obedience to Him.  He saved us by His mercy.  As we act out the mercy of God to others, the reality of His mercy will become more profound in our lives. 

My book, The Gospel According to Molly, has a chapter where that truth became exceedingly real to me.  When it did the joy of the mercy of Jesus Christ was overwhelming.  I knew it.  I had preached it.  Suddenly, however, as it became an active feature of my own conduct I saw what it was all about.  There is no other way to put it than to say that the mercy of God just blew up into a happy joy-joy moment in my life.  As I continued the writing of the book God continued to reveal to me just how great His mercy was and that kept that “happiness drip” flowing into my arm.  I had already received God’s mercy, but it began to take on a profoundly wonderful dimension that was allowed to grow as I showed more mercy myself.  I received the happy benefit when I gave mercy away.

Again we turn to Isaac Watts’ great hymn taken from the Beatitudes, “Blest Are the Humble Souls That See”.  Of mercy he says, “Blest are the men whose bowels move and melt with sympathy and love; from Christ the Lord they shall obtain like sympathy and love again.”  What He has done for us will flood our hearts with the happiness of His true sympathy and love that He gave to us at the cross.

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

A Happy Hunger

I have some kind of blood sugar disorder.  Most of the time, like right now, I can’t remember the name of it, but it isn’t diabetes.  Anyway, when it sets in I need to eat and eat now.  My body is hungry even if my stomach isn’t.  Fortunately the instant onset of symptoms alerts me to my urgent need and creates that hunger in my mind that can save my life.  Having that hunger, in fact, makes me happy – it keeps me going.

Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.”  This is a holy hunger that will bless our lives with satisfaction and life.  It is a hunger that God will never ignore.  It is a hunger that the psalmist says is more important than our daily food. 

On one level this hunger is a hunger for the Word of God.  In God’s Word we find righteousness.  The psalmist said that “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”  He went on to say that they were “sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.”  There’s that sugar spike I need to stay alive. 

A second level of hungering for righteousness is the hunger to have it active in ourselves.  When we think of hunger we think of wanting, or needing, to eat and do it now.  That is how we should feel about righteous living.  We should feel the need to be doing it and doing it now.  Living for the Kingdom cannot be put off for some more convenient time.  The time with God is now.  It is the time that we have.

Of course the greatest righteousness that we need is being righteous with God.  We cannot meet this hunger on our own.  All we do cannot avail to please God or to satisfy the emptiness of life without Him.  One of the names of God is The Lord is My Righteousness.  Paul told us that God has exchanged our filthy rags of sin with Christ’s righteousness in making us His child.  When we throw ourselves at the feet of the cross and cry out, “I can’t make it on my own.  My hunger is too great and my ability is nothing at all.”  God, in grace will hear our cry and feed us the righteousness of Christ and make us His own.  We shall be filled now and forever. 

Isaac Watt’s hymn “Blest Are the Humble Souls That See” covers this hunger in verse four.  “Blest are the souls that thirst for grace hunger and long for righteousness; they shall be well supplied, and fed with living streams and living bread.”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

Happy in Sorrow

Can happiness come from sorrow?  Jesus said, “Blessed (happy) are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.”  This isn’t irrational if we consider it along spiritual lines.  These beatitudes are the rules for the Kingdom of Heaven.  They are how to live out the truth of that kingdom on this earth we daily inhabit.

Three ways are clearly taught in scripture about how sorrow and happiness work hand in hand.  The first way is inward.  We should be freely ready to admit our sins.  We are not perfect in the flesh nor are we going to become so.  We sin, but that sin should lead us to sorrow over it.  We will not sorrow as others who have no hope.  We will sorrow over having offended our loving Lord and confess it to Him.  He has promised that “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  There is comfort in the forgiveness of our loving Lord.  Our sorrow led us to confession and the joy of forgiveness.

Another way is a mixture of inward and outward.  In this world we are daily confronted by both the sinfulness of man and its horrible effects.  This should also produce sorrow in our hearts.  There is no way we should be indifferent to the sin around us.  The comfort is in the truth that one day Jesus will reign.  He will deal righteously and justly with both sinful behavior and its effects.  We are to be comforted that God will make right the wrongs that we see.  This is an oft repeated promise to the Jews in the Old Testament when they considered the sad effects their sins had had on them.

Thirdly we can see constructive use of our mourning.  In II Corinthians Paul told us that we have been comforted so that we can comfort others.  When we can use the comfort of God to comfort those that mourn, we have done the work of an evangelist.  We bring joy and hope to others and touch them with the love of God.  This positive use of our comfort for them brings us natural happiness at helping our neighbors and friends.  Truly blessed are those that mourn in faith. 

This brings us to the second stanza of Isaac Watts hymn from yesterday, “Blest Are the Humble Souls That See”.  “Blest are the men of broken heart, who mourn for sin with inward smart; the blood of Christ divinely flows, a healing balm for all their woes.

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

 

Happiness Multiplied

The psalmists gave us a variety of ways that we could find happiness in our lives.  They were all practical and not out of reach for every believer to practice daily.  In Matthew Jesus began His message on Kingdom living with a few practical tips on how to happily live with Him as King of our lives.  The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 begin with eight choices we can make for our life to find happiness.  All of them run counter to the way we would normally expect to find happiness.  But Jesus is King and these are the stated patterns for living with happiness in His kingdom on this present earth.

He began with “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  Some people have chosen to believe that this passage offers some special spiritual benefit to people who choose to be poor.  But that is not what Jesus said or meant.  He specifically said “poor in spirit”.  How can we be poor in spirit?  In Luke 18:10-14 Jesus told of two men who went to pray in the temple.  One was a Pharisee and the other a publican.  The Pharisee told God why He should accept him.  The other told God that he needed Him.  The first was not poor in spirit, but the second was. 

Poor in spirit strips away from us the pride of life that arose in the heart of Eve when she was tempted by Satan.  Satan told her she could be like God.  She wanted that.  She was not content to be the first lady of the Garden of Eden.  That was an insufficient status for her.  She wanted to be like God.  That is like the Pharisee.  He said to God, “I know I am as good as You, so You should accept me.”  The Pharisee was a strict law keeper, but he was as repugnant to God as if he had never kept a single law.  He did not love God.  He loved his own righteousness and that is not poor in spirit.

Happiness can only come when we see that we are insufficient and God is all sufficient.  Only by dying to self and its pride and allowing Christ His rightful place as Lord will we find the happiness of heavenly bliss in our hearts.  Isaac Watts in his hymn “Blest Are the Humble Souls That See” captured this truth in the first stanza. “Blest are the humble souls that see their emptiness and poverty; treasures of grace to them are giv’n, and crowns of joy laid up in Heav’n.”  Let us recognize daily that it is only Christ in us that gives us hope and joy.  Pride will never bring happiness, but Christ will. 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

Happiness on a One Way Street

I helped teach all six of our children to drive.  The scariest thing at the start of driving is facing oncoming traffic.  You don’t want to run off the shoulder and you don’t want to have a head on collision.  The speed slows down and the steering wheel is held a little more tightly until the crisis of meeting that other car is past.  Driving on a one way street is a lot easier and comfortable.  God wants us to drive our lives on a one way street. 

Psalm 119:2 says, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!”  Single mindedness is not a sinful trait if it is directed at living with Christ as Lord of our life.  Paul wrote to the Philippians Phil. 3:13, “but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.” (KJV)  Notice the singularity of his mind.  “This ONE thing” is how he described his life motive.  He wasn’t running randomly in search of a purpose or in pursuit of a goal.  He was focused on one purpose and one goal.  He wanted to know Christ better and serve Him ever more faithfully.  He wanted to make Christ the very center of His life.  All other items in his life were peripheral.  Christ was the consuming passion. 

That is driving on a one way street.  That doesn’t mean Paul didn’t have friends or other work to do. He was a tent maker by trade and often found himself engaged as such.  He speaks highly of the relationships he had with others.  He wasn’t an isolated monk.  He was very much an engaged person, but his engagement always was focused on living for Christ.  He said in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”  He was driving down Christ First Street and it was a one way all the way for Paul.  We never hear him complain or be sad or distressed on this street.  He was fulfilled and had a life characterized by true joy and contentment.  Paul was a happy man.

Frances Havergal wrote the stirring hymn “True Hearted, Whole Hearted”.  She calls for all of Christ’s followers to live for Him with a whole heart, just like the psalmist said would bring happiness. “Truehearted, wholehearted! Fullest allegiance yielding hence-forth to our glorious king! Valiant endeavor and loving obedience freely and joyously now would we bring.”  She proclaimed that such a road, when taken, would let us joyously sing.  There is indeed happiness driving on a one way street.  

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted.  You may also find some of my selected daily devotions at FEBC.org.  FEBC is a vital missionary outreach to many countries that are closed to traditional missionary work. 

 

 

Happy are the Forgiven

Countless billions of dollars are spent on health care every year for one totally unnecessary illness.  Our hospitals could have thousands of empty beds except for one totally unnecessary illness.  Insurance companies could save billions of dollars and premiums could be lower except for one totally unnecessary illness.  Test after test that is run only to find no cause could be avoided if it weren’t for one totally unnecessary illness.  What is that illness?  It is the illness of guilt.  Guilt leads to thousands of other symptoms that cannot be treated because the root cause always remains. 

Martin Luther said that we should begin every day with the Lord’s Prayer and end every day the same way.  There is a key line in that prayer, that if we believe God is true, would aid millions of people.  “Forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive our debtors (those who trespass against us)”.    Since God is true and we ask Him for forgiveness, He gives it.  We can go to bed and sleep well.  We won’t be stressed about all the guilty things we have done in our lives.  They are forgiven in Christ.  The illnesses that come from guilt will disappear from our lives.  God has removed our sins from us and buried them in the deepest sea.  He is not going scuba diving to bring them back up.  Neither should we.

Psalm 32:1 says, “Blessed (happy) is the man whose sin is forgiven.”  The next verse says, “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.”  There should be a whole lot of happiness and not a whole lot of guilt in the Christian life.  We came to God by faith believing that He loved us and wanted to save us from our sins.  He does love us and does forgive our sins.  He wants to save us from the guilt and associated illnesses and sorrows that come from hanging on to what He has forgiven.  He wants to spread some real happiness in our lives.

John Scofield wrote the wonderful hymn “Cancelled!”  The third verse truly expresses how we should be in our life, free from the guilt of sin and singing praises to Him.  Then the chorus rousingly proclaims that our sins are cancelled through Christ.  Please don’t live in the shadow and pain of guilt.  Believe the promises and sing. “Gratitude to Him has turned my heart to praise, I’m grateful for gifts bestowed; and my song will flow thro’ all the coming days, for He cancelled the debt I owed.”  (Chorus)  “Jesus cancelled the debt I owed, Jesus lifted the mighty load; grace divine touched my soul and made me whole when He cancelled the debt I owed.”

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

 

 

Happy are the Righteous

Have you ever been pulled over by an officer for committing a traffic offence?  Were you ever ticketed and had to pay a fine?  Were you happy about it?  Were you ever called to the principal’s office or had to stay after school for misbehavior?  Were you happy about it?  The truth is that unrighteousness seldom brings happiness.  Unrighteousness, doing anything that is not morally or legally right, may bring pleasure for a season, but the piper always has to be paid and then there is no happiness. 

Ps. 106:3 says, “Happy are those who deal justly with others and always do what is right.” (NLT)  This psalm calls upon us to see that happiness is a product of certain behaviors that cause us to step outside ourselves.  We are to do justice to others.  That does not mean just demand that justice is done to the wicked.  It means that we will deal justly with others.  It is like the commandment, “Do unto others as you have them do unto you.”  We want people to deal honestly and fairly with us.  God wants us to deal honestly and fairly with others.  We feel in life that our basic needs should be met.  We should feel the same for others.  We appreciate mercy shown to us.  We should show it to others.  Justice isn’t in a court of law.  Justice is living our lives for the welfare of others that they may have their needs met JUST like we do.  They may have comfort in their cares JUST like we do.  They may have hope for their future JUST like we do.  Justice is JUST like US. 

But we don’t have that attitude.  We got ours and let the other guy get his own, too.  We have that attitude because we are sinful people.  Justice for us though, is really death, the wages of sin.  But God, who is Just and Judge, sent His Son so that He could JUSTIFY us.  He could take our sins away; pay the full penalty for them by His own death.  He could clothe us with His righteousness so that we could live just like Christ.  Now as Christians, or little christs, we will find happiness in living for the welfare of others as Christ lived and died for ours.  Now our righteousness is His and Him. 

Count Nicholas Von Zinzendorf wrote a hymn about this.  “Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress.  Midst flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head.”  Happiness is found in Christ, our Righteousness, and in living His righteousness out in the world in which we live.  In this we will live justly and do right to the praise and glory of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

The Happy Student

If you ever read my profile you know that I was not a happy student.  To say that I hated school would be an insufficient way of expressing it.  Sunday was my unhappiest day of the week because the next day was Monday.  My kindergarten teacher got things started off on a bad foot and the others along the way made that footpath into a super highway.  One teacher intervened and changed everything.  He taught me to love learning and I could still hate school as much as I wanted.  He taught me that a true student wasn’t one who mastered the monotony of sitting in a desk five days a week doing repetitious work.  A student was one who wanted to know things and was open to learning them. 

Those are the kind of students that God wants.  Anybody can eventually become habituated to sitting in a pew one hour per week and let the Word go over their head.  A student comes to the pew willingly seeking to learn the Word and take it into life.  Learning is for life, not for tests.   Ps. 94:12 says, “Blessed (happy) is the man whom You instruct, O LORD, and teach out of Your law.”  The happiest students are those who want to be instructed by God.  Every day they can find new happiness in this pursuit.

To be instructed by God is not a passive experience.  We must be eagerly involved.  That eagerness will make us attentive to the great things that God wants us to know, to learn and to practice.  God is not monotonous.  He won’t bore us.  He loves to teach.  His subject matter is never irrelevant.  Jesus was called the Teacher.  The Holy Spirit’s name is Teacher.  God gave gifts to the church and teaching is one of them.  God knows a lot about teaching.  We need to actively involve ourselves in learning from Him.  The psalmist said, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law.”  He said simply, “Help me learn.”  If we will come to the Triune God eager to learn, we won’t be disappointed.  We will, in fact, be happy.

Benjamin Ramsey wrote the hymn “Teach Me Thy Way, O Lord”.  We should make it a mainstay of our meditation that will lead us to happy learning.  “Teach me Thy way, O Lord, teach me Thy way! Thy guiding grace afford, teach me Thy way! Help me to walk aright, more by faith, less by sight; lead me with heav’nly light, teach me Thy way!  Long as my life shall last, teach me Thy way! Where’er my lot be cast, teach me Thy way!
Until the race is run, until the journey’s done, until the crown is won, teach me Thy way!”

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

A Happy Milestone Day

Today is an anniversary of sorts.  Today I have been coming into your home for six months.  That is, I have been if you have been following this daily devotion from the beginning.  For me it has been a blessed, yes happy, six months of sharing the grace of Jesus Christ with you. 

As a pastor I was used to preparing multiple sermons each week so I didn’t think too much at the start about writing each day.  But a sermon is much longer than a devotional and therefore just a little less demanding.  What, you might say?  Well, here I get 400-500 words to say just what I want to say.  Everything has to be polished down to the clearest and yet simplest form.  There can be no lengthy explanations or illustrations.  Even when I speak at nursing homes or retirement centers I get ten minutes to speak and that is about 3000 words.  As an author of books I get to use 50,000 or more words.  It has been great to find the discipline to use 400-500 words and try to get across my idea.

I hope that these months have been as much of a blessing to you as they have been to me.  I will be finishing my devotions on happiness in the next two weeks and then am looking forward to starting a new series that I am now researching.  At the same time I am now working on books 4, 5 and 6.  The writing of book four is done and it is in the editing process.  Books 5 and 6 are forming themselves slowly and are each a little over half done.  You can find these books at my website, www.davidccraig.net.  Each chapter in books one and two is a devotional unto itself.  That seems to be the way I think and write.  They are longer, however, than I get here, about 1500 words per chapter.  Enjoy the books and enjoy the coming daily devotionals that will continue to appear here. 

Now may this rich blessing written by Loammi Ware be with you all.

“Father Almighty, bless us with Thy blessing, answer in love Thy children’s supplication;
hear Thou our prayer, the spoken and unspoken; hear us, O Father.

Shepherd of souls, who bringest all who seek Thee, to pastures green, beside the peaceful waters; Tenderest Guide, in ways of cheerful duty, lead us, good Shepherd.

Father of mercy, from Thy watch and keeping no place can part, nor hour of time remove us; give us Thy good, and save us from our evil, Infinite Sprit!”

The Sound of Happiness

For her science project a middle school girl made a machine that would keep dogs happy when their owners were away.  The dog would step on a pedal and a voice recording of their owners would be heard.  I know that my dog likes to hear the sound of my voice when I am away.  The same thing is true for babies.  Nothing soothes them as much as the sound of their mother’s voice.  The psalmist said that this happiness can also belong to God’s child.  Psalm 89:15 says, “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound.”  Verse 16 adds, “In Your Name they rejoice all day long.” 

The master’s voice, or in the case of the psalmist, the Master’s Name, brings blessing or happiness to those who know it best and rely upon it for their daily needs.  John Newton wrote the hymn “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds”.  The first verse reads, “How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear!  It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds and drives away his fear.”  Isn’t that exactly what the sound of the mother’s voice does for the distressed baby?  There is assurance and security and certainty in that voice.  That is what we hear in the voice of God, the voice our spirit hears whenever His name is uttered. 

Sadly there are those who have an entirely different reaction to that Name.  They fear instead of being calmed.  That Name to them is the name of certain judgment.  That name to them is of the authority that would crush their unrepented evil ways and calls them to a life of righteousness.  John 3:19-20 speaks of these people as those who loved the darkness rather than the light and that they even hate the light.  It is sad because Jesus is calling them to the light and to life through Him.  But rejecting the hope that He brings leaves them only with the fear of His judgment. 

The psalmist had said that the joyful sound was for those who rejoice in the great name of God.  The dog rejoices in the presence of its owner.  The baby rejoices in the presence of its mother.  The sheep know their shepherd’s voice and follow.  The believer knows the care and love of His heavenly Father and finds it a blessed sound.  Meditating on the Apostles’ Creed or the Doxology or the Gloria Patri with their repeated use of the Name of God should bring sweet comfort and peace to the believer and happiness to their heart. 

 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

Happily in Church

A lot of people get really excited about the prophetic passages in the book of Revelation and a lot of people argue and break fellowship over those same passages.  There is a beautiful verse in Revelation chapter one that should unite the church and give us cause to both repent and rejoice.  That is verse 13 which says, “And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.”  The churches are the lampstands (vs. 20) and Christ is in the midst of them.  That we would argue and fight in His presence is sad, but that He is in the midst of the church should cause us to rejoice.  Whenever we get together with other believers, He is there fellowshipping with us.  He is in the pew beside us.  He is holding the hand of the annoying person in the pew across from us.  He is in the pulpit with His arm around the pastor.  He is in the hands of those who distribute the sacraments.  Being in church with Him should make us very happy.

The psalmist thought so.  In Psalm 84:4 we find that little word blessed, meaning happy, saying, “Blessed are those who dwell in your house.”  Wow!  Happy is the man who spends his life in your house.  That’s what it says.  In Psalm 122:1 David said, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.”  Psalm 84:10 says, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in tents of wickedness.”  The corporate worship of God’s people should fill us with an anticipation of happiness each week.  To think of putting it off for a golf game or some other activity is to diminish the very essence of who we meet there each week.  We should derive our greatest happiness in being a simple doorkeeper in the house of the Lord. 

The Presbyterian Psalter of 1912 rendered Psalm 122 like this: 

With joy I heard my friends exclaim, ‘Come, let us in God’s temple meet; within thy gates, O Zion blest, shall ever stand our willing feet.’

They come to learn the will of God, to pay their vows, His grace to own; for there is judgment’s royal seat, Messiah’s sure and lasting throne.

For sake of friends and kindred dear, my heart’s desire is Zion’s peace; and for the house of God, the Lord, my loving care shall never cease.

Oh, that we too would find such rapture in the attendance of church each week.  God promises us happiness there.  Set a goal this year to attend worship each week. 

 

 

The Friday Benediction

Until Monday, my friends, may the good God envelop you with His grace; may you prove the common confession of faith, “I believe in the holy Christian church and in the fellowship of the saints”, and may you be enriched with joy and hope as you exercise that confession this weekend.  Amen

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

O Happy Land

Authors, from visionary dreamers to theologians to psychiatrists, have written books of their vision of Utopia.  In these imaginary lands everyone is happy, usually as a result of following the wise leadership of a beneficently minded leader who knows best.  Those who step out of line, however, need a little extra guidance or re-education.  God has a different remedy for a happy land.  It is found in Psalm 33:12. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, and the people He has chosen for His own inheritance.”  Of course, this was an ideal unrealized since the people of Israel were always hankering for someone other than God to be the god of their land.  But it is an ideal that can be realized by His people today.

In the New Testament God does not have a “land” as such.  He will in the future reclaim Israel for His sovereign territory for a thousand years, but right now He has no land.  What He does have is people.  His people, called by and through the Name of His Son Jesus, are His “territory”.  In their hearts and lives He has a worldwide territory.  He has enough “land” and people to make known to all the world that He can make a difference in the contentment level, the joy level, the peace level, or what we might call “the happiness quotient” level of humanity.  For those who are His territory, who will die to self and live to Him – making Him Lord, they will prove to all that “Happiness is the Lord.” 

Too often, however, we find that the Christian community is no different than the lost community.  Instead of trusting they live in worry.  Instead of praising they live in complaining.  Instead of acknowledging His authority they set out to run their own lives and give Jesus a lift along with them if He wants the ride.  The result is that they have as many idols as ancient Israel had and have no more happiness than they had as a result. 

But Jesus daily calls out to us to change that pattern. He calls out to us to repent and live this day for Him and in living it find all that He promised is true. Each of us needs to make that commitment of Paul, as expressed in Galatians 2:20, to die daily and then live in the joyful expectancy of Christ and His kingdom in us.

Great Christ the King to Thee we bring our willing hearts today

To be the land with Your command where You alone hold sway

Reveal through us Your graciousness and let our full hearts sing

That happiness is real in us when You are Christ the King. 

 

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

The Happy Giver

One of the saddest persons in literature is Ebenezer Scrooge.  His idea of a good day was to say “Bah, humbug” to everyone he met.  When asked for a pittance for the poor, he was far more ready to give the fundraiser a piece of his mind than a piece of his coin.  It is hard to ever find a happy miser.

God has a different way to happiness.  In Psalm 41:1 David said, “Happy is the man who considers the poor.”  In 41:2 he added, “He shall be blessed (happy) upon the earth.”  Ebenezer Scrooge learned this lesson through a mysterious dream.  God gives us this lesson in a straight forward promise.

As I have said before, we live in a tough neighborhood.  There are people being evicted on a weekly basis.  One day we looked out the window and across the street was a family that we “casually” knew who had everything on the front sidewalk of their apartment.  We are not rich and I knew we couldn’t pay their rent, but my wife and I went over and asked them if there was anything we could do.  It was with some hesitation because we knew we couldn’t do much.  “Yes,” they said. “You can take our children and take care of them for us.”  My wife and I looked at each other and out of my mouth came the strangest response.  “OK.”

An hour later they delivered their eleven year old twins to our house with only the clothes on their backs.  Then they moved out of town.  I did insist that the mother give us a letter authorizing us to take necessary medical action and enroll them in school in the fall.  Suddenly we had two very semi-legal foster children.  I remember taking them to buy school clothes and I had the girl with me.  A lady stopped us in the aisle and asked if I were her foster dad. (The children were of a different race.)  The girl watched me closely.  “No,” I said.  “I am her grandpa.”  I made a real friend then and there.  We were both happy.

That is what God promised.  “Happy is the man who considers the poor.”  Spice up your life with a little happiness.  Care for those who can’t care for themselves.  Remember, “God loves a cheerful giver”.  He will add cheerfulness back to the giver.

There’s happiness round the corner for everyone who shares

God in heav’n will never forget the gifts of those who care. 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

Happiness in the Unseen

There is an old saying, “Seeing is believing”.  Missouri is known as the “Show Me State”.   A line from a famous movie says, “Show me the money.”  Can all that visualization really make us happy?  Is that what it takes to be sure of something?  God would disagree.  Paul wrote, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  (II Cor. 5:7)

In Psalm 2:12 we find that little word “blessed” again, the one that means happy.  “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”  Trust and “show me” are two different things.  Trust is a handshake and a promise.  Show me is a cashier’s check.  Show me implies doubt.  Trust me is the essence of faith.  Our walk with Christ is to be one of faith.  The Father called us by faith to believe in the Son.  Trust is faith in action.

The phrase “Blessed is the man who trusts in Thee” is oft repeated in the psalms with variations.  In Ps. 2 it applies to believing in the Son as God’s Messiah.  It compares those who believe with those who rejected Christ.  The believers are happy; the rejecters are crushed.  Therefore, it says, believe.  In Ps. 34:8 the phrase is repeated, but this time it is used with a different emphasis.  This time the trust is not for salvation but in circumstances that challenge and confront our lives.  In Ps. 40:4 the phrase is used again.  Again it is used with a different emphasis.  This time the psalmist is waiting on the Lord.  Will he abandon the wait and choose a “show me” mentality?  He says “Blessed is the man who trusts”.  Whether it is for salvation or for our daily walk, or for dire circumstances or for those times where we just find ourselves waiting on the Lord’s will, “Blessed is the man who trusts in Thee” is the repeated phase. 

Edgar Stites wrote “Trusting Jesus”.  It is an old hymn that will refresh us every day as we look to Jesus in simple trust for all He has promised to us.

 “Simply trusting every day, trusting through a stormy way; even when my faith is small, trusting Jesus, that is all.”

“Singing if my way is clear, praying if the path be drear; if in danger for Him call;
trusting Jesus, that is all.”

Refrain:  “Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by; trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.”

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month is my newest book Taking Care of Joe.  This is the story of a caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.  See how God adds His grace in the face of this horrible disease and how living a life of love is living a life NOT interrupted. 

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.

 

Happiness Every Day

I’ve never met a person who didn’t want to be happy.  I’ve met many who aren’t, but none who didn’t want to be.  Oh, they think many things will make them happy and they don’t think they can be happy without them.  That’s too bad, since few of us will have all the things we want.  When Solomon had all he wanted in Ecclesiastes chapter 2, he said that it failed to fulfill him.  So, is there a way to be happy?  Yes!

Psalm 1:1 says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”  That little word “blessed” at the start of this verse comes from a Hebrew word meaning “happy”.  Perhaps the idea is even broader, that there is a fullness of life and a deep satisfaction in living it.  We are not talking happy as in “it’s Saturday and I don’t have to go to work.”  That is what we really want.  God tells us how to get it.  It begins with His word, that perfect, inerrant word that He has given for our instruction and happiness.

But there is a second step to happiness.  We don’t just have to read it and walk away.  We have to read it and then do it.  That is what He means by not walking, or standing or sitting, progressively getting more stuck in the rut with the wicked.  He gives us light in His word and He wants us to walk in it.  Happiness then is a choice; we can take it or leave it.  God offers us the opportunity to take it.  He invites us to take it.  He did not create us to be bogged down with sorrow all our life.  He put man in the Garden of Eden.  Man chose to disobey and leave.  God in Christ invites him to come back. 

Come back to peace with God.  Come back to joy in the Lord.  Come back to looking forward to getting up each day and finding true happiness, blessing with Him.  Eliza Hewitt wrote a song to spring our lives into a pattern of happiness.  She invites us to walk in the light of Christ and His word.

    “Trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, trying to follow our Savior and king;
shaping our lives by His blessed example, happy, how happy, the songs that we bring.”

“Pressing more closely to Him who is leading, when we are tempted to turn from the way; trusting the arm that is strong to defend us, happy, how happy, our praises each day.”

“How beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping in the light, stepping in the light, how beautiful to walk in the steps of the Savior, led in paths of light.”

 

 

Visit my website at www.davidccraig.net for inspiring Christian books.  Coming this month a new book, "Taking Care of Joe", a caregiver's story.  See how God adds grace in the face of Alzheimer's disease and how living love is living a life NOT interrupted.   

You can now also find some of my selected devotions at www.FEBC.org. Just click "blog" on the menu bar.  You can also learn more about this great mission organization by reading through their website.