Dear friends:
No one can have true happiness and peace unless they know their sins are forgiven and that they have assurance of eternal life with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
But even some Christians are not as happy as they can be. Below are ten rules for happiness which may be of help to you:
1. Give something away to someone (with no strings attached).
2. Do a kindness to someone (and forget it).
3. Spend a few minutes with the aged (their experience is a priceless guidance).
4. Look intently into the face of a baby (and marvel).
5. Laugh often (it is life's lubricant).
6. Give thanks to the Lord (a thousand times a day is not enough).
7. Pray (or you will lose the way).
8. Work (with vim and vigor).
9. Plan as though you'll live forever (because you will).
10. Live as though you'll die tomorrow (because your body will on some tomorrow).
Psalms 146:5 says, "Happy is the man who has the God of Jacob as his helper, whose hope is in the Lord his God -- the God who made both earth and heaven, the seas and everything in them" (Living Bible). Many times people are not happy because they forget who God is, how powerful He is, how much He loves us, and how capable He is to take care of us.
In Proverbs 16:20, God says, "God blesses those who obey him; happy the man who puts his trust in the Lord." Obedience and trust -- two keys to successful Christian living. The old hymn says it so clearly: "Trust and obey, for there's no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey." So true.
Our Lord Jesus describes five different activities or types of people who are "happy" in Matthew 5:5-10 (LB).
The popular secular song exhorts, "Don't worry, be happy." That should be true every day for the obedient and trusting Christian!
Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission
each year until our Lord returns,
Bill Bright
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Dr. Bill Bright is founder and chairman of Campus Crusade for Christ, an organization which began as a campus ministry in 1951 and now has more than 25,000 full-time staff and 553,000 trained volunteer staff in 196 countries in areas representing 99.6 percent of the world's population. In the past 50 years, Campus Crusade for Christ has seen approximately 6 billion exposures to the gospel worldwide. The film, "JESUS," which Bright conceived and funded through Campus Crusade for Christ, is the most widely translated and viewed film of any type ever produced. Since its use began in 1980, the film has been translated into more than 730 languages and viewed or listened to by some 5 billion people in 236 countries. Dr. Bright is also the author of more than fifty books.
Copyright (c) 2002, Bill Bright. All rights reserved. However, readers may copy and distribute this message as desired, without restrictions in number, as long as the content is not altered. Forwarding this e-mail to friends is encouraged. For many free evangelistic and spiritual growth materials, visit the Campus Crusade for Christ Web site at http://www.ccci.org. See http://www.newlifepubs.com for Bill Bright's own materials.