Summer is gone. The direct rays of the sun have moved across the equator. Birds are moving south. Trees are turning color. Coats and jackets are on display. Motorcycles with For Sale signs are in front yards. Yellow school buses slow our commutes to work. Ice cream stores are closing. One could easily become a bit melancholy but just as good times are past good times are coming. “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24.
In Matthew 5 Jesus said, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.” And in Proverbs 17:2 we read, “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” Most often our lives are what we create. If we want to be happy we can choose happy objects for our attention. Or it can be just the opposite.
There is a sickness in Christianity. It is “Negativitis” or “Or isn’t bad news wonderful?” The infected don’t want to hear anything good because they believe there will be a horrible time of trouble before Jesus comes. If we are bearers of Good News, then we must not want Jesus to return. Surely this mode of thought must shorten life because of the continual down it produces. Then again it can be useful for them because the sooner they die the sooner it will seem for them that Jesus has returned. There is a plus to this.
Life will bring its share of disappointments and pain. Instead of manufacturing them by dwelling on the bad news of Fox, CBS and the other networks let’s look for the good things and we can live lives that are the envy of all who meet us.
Written by Roger Bothwell on September 23, 2013
Spring of Life Ministry, PO Box 124, St. Helena, CA 94574
Rogerbothwell.org