Loving others includes being happy that they are happy … unless the source of their happiness is sin.  People can find happiness in things ranging from cheating on a test to cheating on a spouse, hurting themselves through addictions to hurting others through mistreatment, and ignoring family needs to ignoring God.  This is not the time to be happy for them; it is the time to help them. We should support: Godly ambitions, but not selfish ones.  Godly affections, but not sinful ones. Godly actions, but not senseless ones.  Let us encourage each other to be happy in ways that will not be regretted in the end.

Christians should know two feelings better than anyone else:  conviction and celebration. We must never lose sight of this:  our sin is great.  We must never lose hope in this:  our Savior is greater.  A right response to our unfolding transformation as we follow Jesus in faith is the ongoing rhythm of repenting of our sin and rejoicing in our salvation.  We were guilty, yet acquitted.  We were undeserving, yet rewarded. We were trapped, yet freed.  May we know the humbling, exalting experience of knowing both our sinfulness and our Savior.  Let us be glad in this: Our sin may have begun our story, but the grace of God will end it.

People often reject the gospel because they would rather rely on good advice for what they need to do rather than receive good news about what Jesus will do for them.  Humans love self-help strategies that promise you can fix yourself until they inevitably find that these strategies don’t actually help self.  Well-meaning sayings like toughen up, lighten up, buck up and cheer up are just a set up that make us want to give up.  Real, lasting change will only come when we ask God to begin and complete His good work in us so we can live by His power.  He’s ready, willing and able to do it if we’ll stop trying to do it ourselves.

Many people feel like their prayer isn’t “working” so they barely or rarely pray at all. Prayer, as with all of life, should be about God being honored in us and us being happy in Him. This is why we are to pray for… The hallowing of His Name.  The coming of His kingdom.  The doing of His will.  This results in His glory and our good! Know this… Prayer isn’t about filling up our kingdoms with what we think will make us happy; it is about being filled up by all He offers in His kingdom so we can actually be happy.  You can be sure of this:  the prayer that “works” is the prayer that “wants” all that God has for us in Jesus.

Day after day He says it.  Day after day He shows it.  God lets us know He loves us in countless ways if we will listen and look for it.  Sometimes it sounds like a plea for repentance or a call to faith or an invitation to serve or a warning of danger or a word of encouragement.  Sometimes it looks like a timely-met need or a quiet moment to rest or a special time with loved ones or a normal day with food, clothing and shelter.  But most verbally and visibly… It sounds like “A Savior is born,” “It is finished,” and “He is risen.”  It looks like a manger, a cross and an empty tomb.  God speaks and shows His love best through Jesus.

There is nothing that I have which was not given to me.  Everything about who I am and what I do that is good is a gift from God at work in me, for me and through me.  Every ability I possess.  Every resource I use.  Every opportunity I take. Every person I serve.  Every task I complete.   I am what I am by the grace of God.  I do what I do by the grace of God.   It is the provision and power and presence of Jesus with me that makes everything possible.  Here is the one thing I know to be true, the one thing I count on every single day, the one thing I will say about any good that comes from my life:  Not I, but Christ in me.

There is a heavenly scene that should run through our minds often as we run the race of life.  When we grow weary from serving, we should think of it.  When the good we do doesn’t seem to be doing much good, we should think of it. When the risk or sacrifice of living out our faith is high, we should think of it. Here’s the scene:  We cross the finish line.  We see the smiling face of Jesus.  We fall down before Him.  And we hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant.  Enter into the joy of your master.”  Know this… Every long day.  Every hard day.  Every costly day.  In that moment, it will all be worth it.

There are days when our biggest battle is against unbelief.  We start to doubt that God cares about what is happening to us and that He is going to do anything about it.  To battle unbelief, we must remember God’s faithfulness in the past and remember God’s promises for the future.  He has always taken care of us, He is taking care of us, and He will continue to take care of us.  Defeat your doubts by remembering today that He has a good reason for what He has allowed into your life and that He is actively working it out for your good. God cares about what is happening to you, and God will show His care for you.

A heart that worships God strives by grace to put God at the heart of everything else.  We increasingly, though imperfectly, want Him to become the center of what, when, where, why and how we do what we do. Our adoration of Him overflows into allegiance to Him.  Our gladness in Him leads us to do what will glorify Him. Our love for Him compels us to live for Him.  Worship changes how we think about our time, money, relationships, priorities and life purpose, and how we carry out the plans of God for us concerning these things.  May God produce in us today both a delight to praise Him and a desire to please Him.

Freedom is always from something and to something else.  If you are trusting in Jesus, He has set you free from a life of shame, regret, joylessness, emptiness, addictions, fear, pride, doubt, lusts, sin and eternal death at the end.  And He has set you free to a life of honor, joy, contentment, victory, humility, security, faith, peace, hope, love and eternal life at the end.  You are free from sin’s cruel rule to be happy in Jesus now and forever! To experience His freedom, simply abide in His words, depend upon His Spirit and feel His presence with you. Today, don’t live as if you are still in chains.  You have been set free.

The world wants us to make small things big and big things small.  It wants small fears to rule our hearts, petty disagreements to sabotage our relationships, and trivial matters to dominate our schedules.  It wants the seriousness of sin to be downplayed, the importance of living for eternity to be minimized, and the amazing availability and role of God’s grace in our everyday lives to be underestimated.  But, praise God, we don’t have to live like that!  Jesus has redeemed us from a life of smallness and sinfulness so we can live for bigger and better things.  Today, by grace, let us keep big things big and small things small.

So often we don’t know what is right to do, haven’t got the desire to do what we know, and can’t do what we know and want to do that is right.  We need a power from outside of us to come inside of us so we can live in such a way that God is honored and we are happy.  That is exactly what God gives us:  the powerful Holy Spirit living in each of us who trust in Jesus.  He guides us on the way.  He encourages us on the way. He helps us on the way.  The Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to go to good places to do good things as we share good news about a good God.  Ask Him to help you decide, desire and do what is right today.

What is going on? Why is this happening?  When will it be over?  Where is God in all of this? Life may not be working out the way we hoped it would or wanted it to, but God is doing a thousand things for us today even if we don’t have our spiritual eyes locked in on any of them.  Our experience may seem pointless and be painful, but we can be confident that He is walking with us and working for us. We don’t have to make sense out of everything that is going on or that we are going through; but we do need to trust that God is tirelessly at work in ways that would make sense if we knew all that He knows.

Let’s be honest:  It’s tempting to quit doing good in this world when the good we do is not noticed by others, appreciated by others, reciprocated by others or supported by others. Yet, we must remember that none of this is the reason why we do good in the first place.  We do good because God has been good to us, is being good to us and will continue to be good to us forevermore.  It is His image that we show to the world when we let our lights shine, so that He might be glorified.  What a wonderful reminder for today:  God is good, and we get to make Him look good, when we do good in His Name.

Many people strive to look stylish, look good and look fit.  And while the Bible emphasizes modesty and simplicity for believers, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t value our outward appearance as well.  However, it is important that we value who we are more than what we look like. We should focus more attention on our hearts than our hair, our minds than our makeup, our character than our clothes, and our personhood than our physiques.  By grace, let us pursue becoming who we were made to be, knowing… Godly character is in style within us.  Morals look good on us.  Christlikeness is a nice fit for us.

Every day there is a tug-of-war for your thoughts, feelings, motives, attitudes, words and actions, pulling you in the opposing directions of what sin entices you into and what God invites you into.   Look to Jesus for help and look for His help to arrive as a way to leave the temptation, the power to say “no” to the temptation, a divine removal of the temptation, the arrival of someone to help you through the temptation, and / or a promise of something worth waiting for that is better than the temptation.  Rejoice!  You are never helpless against temptation for there is a throne of grace you can run to for help.

There is much I love about my heavenly Father.  One thing is this:  He doesn’t just let me do anything I want to do.  He knows that there are many things I want to do which are not good for me or for other people.  So, instead of letting me live selfishly, He removes some things from me in order to replace them with better things.  His plans for my plans.  His ways for my ways. His outcomes for my outcomes. The result isn’t that I experience less, but that I experience more.  More peace.  More joy.  More hope.  More purpose.  Remember, when God says “No,” to something, He is saying “Yes” to something better.

When reading the Bible, if you don’t experience both conviction and celebration, you’re not reading it correctly.   On one hand, we should not ignore the places where God’s words challenge and correct the way we are living if we are disobedient to His commands.  On the other hand, we should not isolate the places where God issues His commands so all we have is a list of “dos and don’ts.”  A proper reading and understanding of the Bible should equip us to joyfully do as God intends and encourage us with all that Jesus has done, is doing and will do for us.  His doing makes our doing possible and makes it worth it.

We live in a world that is full of exaggerations that routinely don’t live up to the expectations they create.  People often make claims that misrepresent reality by making something seem bigger and better than it really is.  While there are many stretches of the truth in the words of those around us, the Word of God is a reliable source of truth. Consider what it says about Jesus.  The Bible does not over-state, over-hype, over-sell or over-promise on who Jesus is and what Jesus does.  As infinitely perfect and infinitely great as He is spoken of in it, Jesus lives up to it.  This is our expectation: He is as awesome as He seems to be.