Don't Worry; Be Happy

You know most of us probably have a bunch going on in life; we may feel stretched thin; even overwhelmed with work, Church, economic issues, friends, family…and the list goes on. As I was contemplating this an old song from the 80’s popped into my mind; Don’t Worry, Be Happy.

Now that’s a great title and I don’t know if you know this, but this song; released in 1988, was the first a cappella song ever to reach number one on the billboard hot 100. This song also garnered Grammys for Song of the Year, Record of the Year and best Male Pop Vocal. Pretty amazing and it made me wonder if there were more to the title; so I did a little Google on it and found it was actually a quote from India Mystic; Meher Baba. It was actually a paraphrase from a longer quote that said “Do your best. Then, don’t worry; be happy in my love.”

Great thought which brought to mind Philippians 4:4; Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again; rejoice! Another translations says it like this; I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord; I repeat what I want is your happiness. Notice in both translations Paul tells us where we will find our happiness; “in the Lord”! So no matter what is going on in this life it is only when we are living with a strong faith in God; only when we grasp onto the radical nature of God’s grace and love through Christ that we find true happiness.

So Don’t Worry; Be Happy has a lot of truth (at least in the title) when we find that happiness in the Lord. Now doesn’t that sound great? But the skeptic in me just has to ask how do you find yourself in the Lord?

I recently read a short bio on a Christian Evangelist named George Mueller. We was born in 1805 and lived most of the 19th century; he witnessed the great awakening of 1859, he worked with D. L. Moody, he preached for Charles Spurgeon and he also was the director of Ashley Down orphanage in England which cared for over 10,000 orphans in his life. He also established 117 schools which offered Christian education to over 120,000 kids. As much as he had on his plate, as busy as he was; as much as he had on his mind, I think Mueller figured out how to be happy in the Lord.

Mueller said; “the first and great primary business to which I ought to attend every day, was to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished…I saw the most important thing I had to do was give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.”

Amazing – to delight in God’s word; to let it nourish us, and to ensure there is relationship by meditation, contemplation and prayer so that in our busy, busy lives, in our state of being overwhelmed we can rejoice in the Lord, we can always be happy in the Lord; we can Don’t Worry; Be Happy!

Grace and Peace!

Stirring the Pot

Have you ever heard the phrase “stirring the pot?” I have been thinking about that phrase lately, and guess what I did? I looked for a definition and found one online. The phrase stirring the pot means someone who loves to rapidly increase the tension and drama between two or more parties. Have you ever met someone like this?

I can tell you that I have been in places where stirring the pot is the rule rather than the exception. I have been in places where rumors are started and the pot stirrer stands back to admire the stirring. It may seem funny at the time, but when you consider the possibility of damaged relationships and hurt feelings, the results can be devastating.

You know life is tough enough without this kind of “help.” There are real challenges and opportunities to focus on rather than the wasteful actions of stirring things up. You know it just seems to me that it is so much better to build things up rather than tear them down. Doesn’t that make sense? Ephesians 4:29 tells us; “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

The next time we encounter a stirring of the pot there is something we can do. There are ways to minimize the impact and build up.

First, we can try something called positive gossip – it is not really gossip at all, but is actually choosing to make a positive statement about the topic at hand. It is finding the silver lining, living the cup half full life. It is learning to be content by faith; to rejoice in all circumstances. Do you notice how people stirring the pot can never seem to stir enough? They feed off of the damage they create. What would happen if we were to feed off of positivity? Your positive words have an impact that goes beyond our expectations.

Second, we can communicate. If there is a stirring, ask someone about it, get the facts and don’t let unfounded information fester into something more serious.

Third, we can be forward looking. With vision we can see the potential, we can choose not to wallow in the muck and mire, but look up to the opportunity of our only true hope; Jesus Christ.

Finally, we can truly help to be kingdom builders. We can work together, pull together, and move together to make things better; we can spur and encourage. You if we really stop and think about it, isn’t that what Christ does for each of us?

Hebrews 10:23-25 shows us the way; “23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Grace and Peace!

Generous Justice

I am reading Tim Keller’s new book; “Generous Justice” and what a wonderful, yet challenging read. This book is convicting while at the same time very encouraging. Keller explains that while we have been made just by the grace of God; we should out of loving gratitude help to provide justice in the world. Keller early on in the book says; “there is a direct relationship between a person’s grasp and experience of God’s grace, and his or her heart for justice and the poor.”

This book is serving its purpose, it is causing me to examine things, to question, to think, to study and hopefully spurring me to change. I am only half complete in reading this fine work, yet already I am writing about it. I am learning.

Keller does a great job helping us to understand what justice really is from a biblical perspective and explains that there are several sides to a proper understanding. Keller points us to Micah 6:8 which says;

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Keller points out that from this verse there is action; we are to act justly to others, but there is an attitude component as well as we must love mercy. Keller says then to humbly walk with God we must do justice out of merciful love. So, once we have the attitude perspective we can then move on to what exactly is doing justice?

In Hebrew there are two words used for justice the first is mishpat and it means providing care for the vulnerable no matter what that care might be; many places in the bible mishpat is used to describe taking up the care and cause of widows, orphans, immigrants and the poor. But wait; there is another side to justice. Keller points out that there is a second Hebrew word that can be translated as being just or being righteous; tzadeqah. This word refers to having a life of right relationships.

Keller points out that Bible scholar Alec Motyer defines this as “being right with God and therefore committed to putting right all other relationships in life…when most modern people see the word righteousness in the Bible, they tend to think of it in terms of private morality…But in the Bible tzadeqah refers to day-to-day living in which a person conducts all relationships in family and society with fairness, generosity and equity.”

So for now that is the challenge for me; to examine my relationships; all my relationships to look for fairness, generosity and equity. Again, very convicting yet somehow so encouraging. There is so much more to this book…I dare you to read it.

Grace and Peace!

Strengthen

You know human nature is a funny thing – not a humorous thing (although it can be that), but a strange thing. At times I find myself becoming so self-reliant that I wear myself out with my efforts, with my worry. I find myself so consumed with being self strengthening that I forget where my strength comes from; I become so stubborn about my strength that I am reluctant to ask for help from the source of my strength.

I read somewhere that the word stubborn is defined as tenaciously unwilling, or marked by an unwillingness to yield. Is that the lesson for me (us); not to allow our stubbornness to make us tenaciously unwilling or unwilling to yield to our maker?

Recently in a morning devotional I was reading Isaiah 41:10;

10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Of this verse, Spurgeon says; (and I paraphrase/modernize) "God has a strong reserve with which to discharge this engagement for He is able to do all things. The same God who directs the earth in orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and trims the lights of heaven, has promised to supply us with daily strength."

Isn’t that so comforting; a promise from God to supply us with daily strength. The God, who hung the stars and the moon; who by His very breath created all things cares that much about each one of us. It is simply amazing to me.

May we all know the He is with us and will uphold us. In the words of E. V. - trust Him!

Grace and Peace!