Are you happy?

A great verse to start the week off with:

Proverbs 14:21

21 He who despises his neighbor sins;
But he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.

God is love. He loves everyone. He expects us to do the same. Some people are very hard to love arn't they? That just means we have to work that much harder at loving them. God tells us in the first part of this verse that if we despise or hate our neighbor it is sin! We have to look at the bigger picture when it comes to others. We may not like the way they act, or they may have even wronged us in some way, but we need to remember they have a soul and eventually will either be in heaven or hell and we may be able to make a difference in their destination by showing them the love of Christ.

The second part of this verse talks about our mercy to the poor. Poor can represent many situations. It can be poor spiritually, or it can be poor financially. God says here in His Word if we show mercy to these folks we will be happy!!! Why would that make us happy? The reason is that when we show mercy to others we then become most like our Lord Jesus. He is mercy and He is love! Try it out for yourself. Show some mercy and love and see if it doesn't make you happy!

So to sum up this lesson for today...don't hate, show mercy, and it will be a happy day!

Pray for someone today!

Tom