|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
           |
Can God Fill My Life With Beauty and Happiness?Is life often monotonous to you? Drab, uninteresting, the same, day after day? Do you feel as though you were in a rut? Do you wonder if there is ever going to be any real, true happiness in life for you? Do the days ahead seem to stretch without hope into a dark gloomy, uncertain future? Well, if you do get discouraged and downhearted like that sometimes, just remember this: God wants you to be happy! It is His will that you live a full, useful, beautiful life!You can prove this to yourself; right in the Bible, right in the very words of Jesus himself: "Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad!" Does that really mean anything to you? Jesus spoke so often of joy in living - not merely the humdrum life of working and eating and sleeping. He taught how important joy and good cheer are for a life of beauty and happiness. Jesus, himself, was a happy man. There was a quiet joy deep down in His heart every hour of His ministry. And many a time He spoke of this joy to others. Do you know why Jesus was happy? It was because He knew that His heavenly Father loved Him. He said it very beautifully and very simply: "The Father hath loved me." God loves you too. God wants you to be happy. Why, then, are you perhaps not very happy at times? Is it because you do not know how to be? The secret of happiness is so very simple that you can hardly believe it. All you need to do is to live your life by God's laws. "He that keepeth the law, happy is he" you can read in Proverbs 29:18. That simply means that if you do what God wants you to do, you will be happy. And, it follows that if you break God's laws, you will be unhappy. This is so easily proved. All of us have done something wrong at one time or another. Were you ever happy after doing something wrong - even though you may have benefited from it in some material way? Didn't you hear a still, small voice down inside of you saying, "Why did you do that? Didn't you know it was wrong?" But, when you do what you know is right, then you are on the road to contentment and happiness. Yes, if you want to be really happy, you will have to do what God's laws tell you to do. And, there is another way of bringing happiness and joy into your life. It is by helping others. Jesus knew this well, for you can read in John 13:17, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them." There is no question but what you have found this to be true in your own life. Whenever you have done something for another without any thought of return, hasn't that been one of your happiest moments? Whenever you sent a gift to another, no matter how simple, even a plant - weren't you happy in the thought of the joy it would give them? Well, there is no greater happiness. For it is one of God's wonderful laws that to help others will always make you happy - and the more you help, the happier you will be! Why, the Bible is just brimming with proof that God put you here to be happy. Time after time, you can read in the Bible the word "Rejoice." And to rejoice is to be more than happy. It is to be so joyful that you want to shout and sing! "Rejoice in the Lord, always; and again I say rejoice." Philippians 4:4. These are truly happy words. They are radiant with joy. You would think they were written by someone who was having a delightful time, who had all their hearts desired, who did not know what cold and bare surroundings meant; who lived a life of movement and change and happiness. That passage you have just read was written by St. Paul, one of Jesus' dearest Disciples. And do you know where he was when he wrote them? He was in prison! He was in prison, not because he had committed any crime, but simply because he was follower of Jesus. Yet even in the drabness, the monotony, the hopelessness of prison, he was so full of joy at being one with Jesus and the Father, that he wrote the wonderful words you have just read! Yes, it is by living close to God, in tune with His beauty and the world's beauty; thrilling to the challenge of living a God-centered life, and helping others, that you will find the only road to beauty and happiness that there is! It is so very true that most of us have to do the very same thing, day after day, whether we work out in the world or in household tasks at home. And it does seem to us sometimes that we are in a rut, that life is monotonous. You are tired and discouraged, that may be true. But if you would only understand that God is within you - not up there in the sky somewhere - but deep within you - inside as well as out - then a beautiful, happy life can begin for you now - this very minute! Jesus well knew the power of the presence of God within you. For he said what you, yourself, have probably always really known. "The kingdom of God is within you." |
 
Our Patient Merciful God
The Bible and the Gospel speak of God's great mercy for us ... 
(Click title to read more)
|
|
| Home | Cathedral History | Seed Faith Principle | Explain Seed Faith | Developing Strong Faith | Prayer Request Letters | Teaching Prayer | | Faith Contact Item | Prayer Rug | Seed Faith Growth | Kneeling in Worship | Site Map |
“Enter his gates with
thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him
and praise his name. |
||