daily devo: "THIS IS GOD’S DAY"
Rev. Reuben K. Youngdahl, grandfather to Eric Youngdahl and Senior Pastor of Mount Olivet Lutheran Church from 1938-1968, was widely known and respected for his pastoral leadership and his uplifting messages of God's love. These messages were published into devotional books so that people might find hope in the promises found in Jesus Christ.
One of his many books was titled, "Going God’s Way.” Pastor Youngdahl issues the challenge for people to go ahead and live today in the faithfulness of God. In his words: “Live each day by itself. Begin and end each one in communion with God. Life’s meaning will be made clear, and its challenge will summon you to follow the way of the Lord, and claim the triumphant life He is able to give you.”
July 11
Wanted- Happier Christians
“Look to him, and be radiant; so your faces shall never be ashamed.” -Psalm 34.5
I know a wonderful elderly Christian woman who loves to serve her fellow men. A skilled baker, she sometimes works from dawn to dusk to bring another person joy with one of her beautifully decorated cakes. Her personal life is complicated with tremendous problems, and there are days when she is oppressed on all sides; but she refuses to let them hinder her in this work of love. Instead, she busies herself with tasks of Christian love and service, prompted by a consuming love for Jesus. When someone reminds her of her own trials, she invariably replies, “Don’t forget that all things work together for good to them that love him.”
There are hundreds of unhappy people in the world today who have not learned to live life for what it is. Life is not always an easy road to travel. There is no escalator to happiness. Sometimes the only clear road is a rollercoaster of ups and downs- a torturous, boulder-strewn path up a mountain. Is it not misfortune that gives us a standard of comparison for appreciating good fortune? Some cross-country pikes plunge through long tunnels where we ride enveloped in darkness. Suddenly we emerge into the sunshine, and now we value the light as never before. Thus misfortune teaches us to recognize and appreciate the blessings which we have.
Are you counting your blessings day by day, naming them one by one to see “what the Lord hath done”? If we emphasize the positive, we shall be tipping the scale of life toward happiness. Do the lines about your mouth in repose show ten minutes of two or twenty past eight?
God gave us muscles so that we can turn our mouths either up or down, to smile or pout. He does not suggest that we clown through life, making jest of everything. But He gives the ability to master those muscles that give us a happy countenance. When we know the inner happiness of peace with God, our radiance is contagious. Wanted for this day and age- happier Christians!
TODAY’S THOUGHT: Happy people are less for getting and more for giving.
