Anger

As the new year approaches, I thought about the resolution I most needed to make.
I enjoy playing the card game of ‘bridge.’ I don’t like to be singled out and told I played wrong. When this happen it causes me to become angry even though I know that the person criticizing me is trying to make themselves look good by making me look bad.

I can’t solve the problem of becoming angry, without recognizing that anger is one of the seven deadly sins. People seldom use the word sin anymore. When we do something wrong, we say we showed ‘inappropriate behavior,’ or made a ‘tactical ‘error’ or ‘mistake.’

I’m ready to affirm my anger is a sin and my resolution for the new year is to try and control that anger.

I realize that sin is not to be hated primarily for the agony it brings into our lives, though that’s part of it. It is to be hated because it has a numbing effect. It deadens our sense of touch with God and lets us live without an awareness of those things that slowly damages our soul. It produces numbness to our spirit . We need a healthy hatred of sin, and anger is one of those sins.

God’s hatred of sin does not diminish His love for the sinner. The Bible tells us: “His anger is but for a moment,” When we repent, He forgives us and doesn’t bring it up against us again.

Some say that the first word of the gospel is repentance. Martin Luther put is this way: “When our Lord, Jesus Christ said ‘repent,’ He willed that the entire life of a believer be one of repentance.” Confession means calling our sins what God calls them. We needn’t fear revealing them to Him for He already knows them.

The demands of God’s perfect justice were met when our substitute, Jesus Christ, bore our sins on the cross, suffered our penalty, and paid our debts.

I’m thankful for the ‘escape clause’ in Romans 12:18. It does not say that we have to live peaceable with all men under every circumstances, for even the Lord recognizes that with some people this is not possible.

I will continue to play bridge. I can choose to be calm. I can be kind even when someone treats me unkindly , and I can be loving when my patience is tested.

The Power of Words
A careless word may kindle strife.
A cruel word may wreck a life.
A bitter word may hate instill;
A brutal word may smite and kill.
A gracious word may smooth the way;
A joyous word may light the day.
A timely word may lessen stress;
A loving word may heal and bless.
--Author Unknown.

Celebrate

What is this we celebrate.
What happened on this special date?
\Are we so busy or in a daze,
To turn to God and give Him praise?

I close my eyes to focus clearer,
Shut out noise, draw Him nearer.
This was when our Savior was born,
Let us worship Him with gifts adorn.

He has given us the greatest gift,
One that’s constant and uplifts,
That only comes from up above,
His grace & Mercy, but mostly love.

A Merry Christmas
&
A Happy New Year!

Joyful

What better time to think of being Joyful than at Christmas time.

In Sunday School one Sunday the idea ,was mentioned ,that Joy was something altogether different from being happy or happiness. It started me thinking of the differences between being happy and being Joyful.

How to gain, how to keep, how to recover happiness is in fact for most people the secret motive of all they do. You cannot find happiness once and expect to own it for a lifetime. You have to keep working at it.

But bringing happiness to others brings an unexpected happiness to yourself for some of it rubs off on you.

"The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes but in liking what one has to do. " Dyer.

Norman Vincent Peale :“Keep you heart free from hate, your mind from worry,
Live simple, expect little, give much,
Fill your life with love, scatter sunshine,
Forget self, think of others."

But to be really happy, you have to walk with God. If you don’t, you may often walk alone
……………………….

The world offers “passing pleasures” (Hebrews 11:25), but the Lord Jesus offers to give us full and lasting JOY (John 15:11). Happiness is dependent on circumstances, but JOY is inward and is not disturbed by one’s environment.

Happiness is always changing, but JOY is constant! Worldly delight are often followed by depression. True JOY is grounded in Jesus Christ, who is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)

To keep experiencing happiness we must run from one stimulus to another, for it refuses to be permanently grasped. JOY is just the opposite. It is a gift we receive from God.

Happiness is built on self-seeking, but JOY is based on self-sacrifice. The more we pursue self-gratification, the more empty we feel. JOY, however, is based on the sacrificial giving of ourselves. As we learn what it means to focus on the needs of others, we find greater fulfillment in God Himself, who meets our every need.

Only when you seek the things of Christ can you find abiding JOY.

JOY
I searched for happiness
It eluded me, I must confess
Until I counted my blessings.
Now my heart & soul sings
For its Joy I found and then I knew
Its only things that Christ can do.
Wilhelmine