Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries by Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour Saint Louis, Missouri, United States "Happiness" for Monday, 25 May 2015
My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD." ... But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.[Lamentations 3:17-18, 21-23]
What makes people happy?
Science Direct decided it would try to find out. In and of itself, that is a Herculean task. But they also wanted to find out whether people's priorities had changed over the years. To do that, they went to a small British town by the name of Bolton.
They picked Bolton because, in 1938, some citizens of that community had answered a survey in which they rated the things they thought would make them happy. Now, 76 years later, the present members of the Bolton community were asked to rate the 10 things they believed would make them happy with life.
It's not surprising that there were changes.
In 1938, toward the end of the Great Depression and right before World War II, people said the three most important things to their happiness were security, knowledge and religion. In 2014, eroding values and an attitude which says, "The world owes me," created a list wherein the three top priorities were leisure, good humor and security.
Religion had dropped to position number 10.
You should know religion was not the only attitude that was clobbered in the survey. Back in 1938 the survey recipients said they were happiest when they were at home and in their community. Today the majority of responders said they found their greatest joy when they were away from their homes, their home town, and their normal lives.
I would imagine if they take the survey in another 70 or 80 years hence, the priorities will once again be reordered. About the only thing that will remain the same is this: sinful people who live in a sinful world are going to be hard-pressed to find lasting happiness.
There will always be an event, a person, a situation, or a circumstance that will mess things up. That's what the writer of Lamentations discovered. It's probably what you know, too.
This is why we need the Savior.
Understand, knowing and believing on Jesus doesn't make us immune from unhappiness. Difficult times come to believers and unbelievers alike. But, when we have been washed of our sins by the Savior's sacrifice, when we have been adopted into the family of faith, when we have been guaranteed a place in heaven, things change.
Knowing the Lord is faithful, His mercies never ending, and His love inexhaustible, we are given hope and happiness, which are renewed every day. It is a happiness that doesn't change.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, sin, the world, and Satan do their best to rob me of joy and happiness. I give thanks that, because of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, they will not succeed. In the Savior's Name I give thanks. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour®
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Through the Bible in a Year
Today Read:
Psalms 15:(0) A psalm of David:
(1) Adonai, who can rest in your tent?
Who can live on your holy mountain?
2 Those who live a blameless life,
who behave uprightly,
who speak truth from their hearts
3 and keep their tongues from slander;
who never do harm to others
or seek to discredit neighbors;
4 who look with scorn on the vile,
but honor those who fear Adonai;
who hold to an oath, no matter the cost;
5 who refuse usury when they lend money
and refuse a bribe to damage the innocent.
Those who do these things
never will be moved.
16: (0) Mikhtam. By David:
(1) Protect me, God,
for you are my refuge.
2 I said to Adonai, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good outside of you.”
3 The holy people in the land are the ones
who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.
4 Those who run after another god
multiply their sorrows;
To such gods I will not offer
drink offerings of blood
or take their names on my lips.
5 Adonai, my assigned portion, my cup:
you safeguard my share.
6 Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.
7 I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
8 I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
9 so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
10 for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,
you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.
11 You make me know the path of life;
in your presence is unbounded joy,
in your right hand eternal delight.
John 9:1 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” 3 Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, 7 and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.
8 His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.” 10 “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him. 11 He answered, “The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”
13 They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. 14 Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. 15 So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.” 16 At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them. 17 So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.”
18 The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents. 19 They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; 21 but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!” 22 The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue. 23 This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.”
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