My Daily Pause

A happy heart is like good medicine,
but a broken spirit drains your strength. – Proverbs 17:22 NCV

There is enough medical evidence that shows that generally happy people are healthier people, and besides, Solomon told us that from the beginning. Why then, aren’t we all resolved to be happy? God gave us the tools to be:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. – 1 Timothy 6:6

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me – John 14:1

Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. – Philippians 4:4

The challenge to true happiness is to avoid confusing it with pleasure. Where pleasure is a momentary feeling from physical activity, happiness is a state of mind about one’s circumstances.

If you have not already, decide to be happy. Avoid attempting to purchase happiness through material things and worldly pleasures.

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.” – Dale Carnegie

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.” – Albert Einstein

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

Daily Bible reading for June 19

Proverbs 17-18
Deuteronomy 21:1-22:12
Amos 5
Matthew 3

Good people think before they answer,
but the wicked simply pour out evil. – Proverbs 15:28 NCV

Our instructions are to go out and teach the gospel (Mark 16:15, Matthew 28:19-20), so we should be always be prepared with answers (2 Timothy 4:2) and we should be able to accurately handle the Scriptures (2 Timothy 2:15).

Having done all of that, could a blunt, unloving and thoughtless answer be destructive – even when it is correct? It can happen, but it doesn’t excuse us from telling the whole truth. How then, do we avoid allowing our good words to have the same effect as another’s evil words? Paul offers this advice:

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person (Colossians 4:6).

Daily Bible reading for June 18

Proverbs 15-16
Deuteronomy 20
Amos 4
Matthew 2:13-23

2 Pride leads only to shame;
it is wise to be humble. – Proverbs 11:2 NCV

Pride is an emotion that is hard to keep in check. We routinely express pride in our children – I think we even find it acceptable for others to do. When looking at how the grown-ups act at the kids’ sports games or other competitions, we should probably start thinking otherwise.

The author of The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley, has researched the habits and minds of the “average” millionaire for years. Here is an article which illustrates the danger of pride in relation to our finances. It is more often the case that those who become wealthy are humble and work hard with integrity.

Sinful pride comes from unhealthy competition (1 Corinthians 4:6) and from placing value on what is seen rather than what is in the heart (2 Corinthians 5:12). Most of all, pride is not compatible with a loving attitude (1 Corinthians 13:4).

Daily Bible reading for June 16

Proverbs 11-12
Deuteronomy 18
Amos 2:6-16
Matthew 1:1-17

Wisdom has built her house;
she has made its seven columns.

She has prepared her food and wine;
she has set her table.

She has sent out her servant girls,
and she calls out from the highest place in the city.

She says to those who are uneducated,
“Come in here, you foolish people!

Come and eat my food
and drink the wine I have prepared.

Stop your foolish ways, and you will live;
take the road of understanding. – Proverbs 9:1-6 NCV

I’ve lived in several excellent places over my lifetime. By excellent, I mean places full of beauty, rich with history and excellent quality of life. I never seemed to take full advantage of them even though they were places where people would save their money and dream of the day they get to visit.

Getting bogged down in life without a plan does that to us.

We could compare the Bible to that. For very little money we can buy a book that took forty men thousands of years to complete. We have access like no one else in history – a history full of war, death, hardship – because of people glad to protect it so that we can have the words that God breathed.

God has made sure that we have access to his wisdom and plan. It is complete. It is compelling. It has never been disproven. The invitation is open and he waits for us to accept.

Make a plan and use it regularly and grow. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Daily Bible reading for June 14

Proverbs 9
Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17
Hosea 14
Philemon 8-22

I, wisdom, was with the Lord when he began his work,
long before he made anything else.

I was created in the very beginning,
even before the world began.

I was born before there were oceans,
or springs overflowing with water,
before the hills were there,
before the mountains were put in place.

God had not made the earth or fields,
not even the first dust of the earth.

I was there when God put the skies in place,
when he stretched the horizon over the oceans,
when he made the clouds above
and put the deep underground springs in place.

I was there when he ordered the sea
not to go beyond the borders he had set.

I was there when he laid the earth’s foundation.

I was like a child by his side.

I was delighted every day,
enjoying his presence all the time,
enjoying the whole world,
and delighted with all its people. – Proverbs 8:22-31 NCV

Proverbs 8:22-31 is a beautiful personification of wisdom that carries overtones of Christ. It reminds me of John 1:1-5 when I read it. Whether or not the passage is actually a prophesy or is describing Christ, I’ll leave to the experts to argue, but we do know that Christ is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24)

To look back at the Old Testament and see indicators pointing to Christ’s coming – to confirm what we believe – is my favorite part of bible study. Throughout the Old Testament we see how God’s perfect plan was conceived from the beginning (Genesis 3:15) and praised (Psalm 90:1-2) and taught (Isaiah 53).

What a privilege to live after Jesus willingly completed that plan by living among us and dying for us in an expression of God’s love! (John 3:16)

Daily Bible reading for June 13

Proverbs 8
Deuteronomy 15:1-18
Hosea 11:12-13:16
Philemon 4-7