LIVING FOR OTHERS

Jesus said to His disciples, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  (Matthew 20:28 NLT)

Rivers do not drink their own water; trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself; and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is… Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you. 

-- Pope Francis (1936 – 2025)

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DOING THE WILL OF GOD

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is -- His good, pleasing and perfect will.”  (Romans 12:1-2)

The end of the universe is not to be happy. The end is not to avoid suffering. But the end of life is to do the will of God, come what may. 

-- Martin Luther King, Jr. in a sermon titled “Paul's Letter to American Christians”

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JOYFUL WORSHIPERS

“Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of Your presence, LORD.”  (Psalm 89:15 NLT)

Happy are they who have reached the end of the road we seek to tread, who are astonished to discover the by-no-means self-evident truth that grace is costly just because it is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Happy are the simple followers of Jesus Christ who have been overcome by His grace and are able to sing the praises of the all-sufficient grace of Christ with humbleness of heart.

Happy are they who, knowing that grace, can live in the world without being of it, who, by following Jesus Christ, are so assured of their heavenly citizenship that they are truly free to live their lives in this world.

Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.

Happy are they who have become Christians in this sense of the word. For them the word of grace has proved a fount of mercy. 

-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, as quoted in “His Passion: Christ’s Journey to the Resurrection”

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HAPPINESS IN THE LORD

“Those who heed the Word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy are they.”  (Proverbs 16:20)

The happiness which brings enduring worth to life is not the superficial happiness that is dependent on circumstances. It is the happiness and contentment that fills the soul even in the midst of the most distressing circumstances and the most bitter environment. It is the kind of happiness that grins when things go wrong and smiles through the tears. The happiness for which our souls ache is one undisturbed by success or failure, one which will deeply root inside us and give us inward relaxation, peace, and contentment, no matter what the surface problems may be. That kind of happiness stands in need of no outward stimulus.

-- Billy Graham


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EVERYTHING YOU NEED

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”  (Psalm 23:1 NKJV)

What you have in your Shepherd is greater than what you don’t have in life.

May I meddle for a moment? What is the one thing separating you from joy? How do you fill in this blank: “I will be happy when _______________”? When I am healed. When I am promoted. When I am married. When I am single. When I am rich. How would you finish that statement?

Now with your answer firmly in hand, answer this. If your ship never comes in, if your dreams never come true, if the situation never changes, could you be happy? If not, then you are sleeping in the cold cell of discontentment. You are in prison. And you need to know what you have in your Shepherd.

You have a God who hears you, the power of love behind you, the Holy Spirit within you, and all of heaven ahead of you. If you have the Shepherd, you have grace for every sin, direction for every turn, a candle for every corner, and an anchor for every storm. You have everything you need.

-- Max Lucado in “Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Meant to Bear -- The Promise of Psalm 23”


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CHRISTMAS-TIME AWAKENS

And numerous indeed are the hearts to which Christmas brings a brief season of happiness and enjoyment.  How many families whose members have been dispersed and scattered far and wide, in the restless struggle of life, are then reunited, and meet once again in that happy state of companionship and mutual good-will, which is a source of such pure and unalloyed delight, and one so incompatible with the cares and sorrows of the world, that the religious belief of the most civilized nations, and the rude traditions of the roughest savages, alike number it among the first days of a future state of existence, provided for the blest and happy!  How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, Christmas-time awakens!

We write these words now, many miles distant from the spot at which, year after year, we met on that day, a merry and joyous circle.  Many of the hearts that throbbed so gaily then, have ceased to beat; many of the looks that shone so brightly then, have ceased to glow; the hands we grasped, have grown cold; the eyes we sought, have hid their luster in the grave; and yet the old house, the room, the merry voices and smiling faces, the jest, the laugh, the most minute and trivial circumstance connected with those happy meetings, crowd upon our mind at each recurrence of the season, as if the last assemblage had been but yesterday.  Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home!

-- Charles Dickens

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