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HAPPINESS AND THANKFULLNESS

The best thing you can do to help your general appearance is to be really, genuinely happy. No matter how plain or how ordinary your face is, a smile and a genuinely happy heart and attitude can transform it into something beautiful. Happiness never comes in a bottle. It is a by-product of holiness; a relaxed continuous trust in the wisdom, truth and Person of God. (Psa. 146:5; Prov. 3:13, 18; 29:18; John 13:17).

Look at the faces of those that turn away from God and truth. Learn the lesson time tells in the lines the years draw when we walk away from His laws. It is clear that sin brings pleasure or no-one would sin. Yet the Bible tells us that this pleasure never lasts; it is for a season, then like leaves in the Fall, it all dies and drops to the ground. (Heb. 11:25) The Devil has some laughing young people, but no happy old people.

You can't fake true happiness. If you want to change your face, you can. What you are like within will eventually change your looks without. (Prov. 15:13; 17:22). Give up your tears, your guilt, your hurts to Jesus. Let Him heal your heart. And you will find something wonderful happens to your face. And it will get better forever. (Neh. 8:10)

THANKFULNESS
What makes a happy heart? What is the single best thing you can do to look your best from day to day? The answer may surprise you. Develop the habit of being thankful.

Look around. Are you dead? Does Jesus still love you? Do you still have the ability to serve God? These alone are reason enough to be thankful. But are you really?

Learn to love what you have been given, and also be thankful for what you have been kept from. Many have taken for granted all the many opportunities and blessings God gave them. Thankfulness is the one grace that guards your heart with humility . A proud person is never grateful. Why should he be thankful when all he has is what he did for himself? It is a mark of the last days that men will be ungrateful. (2 Tim. 3:1-2)

Thankfulness is something God appreciates, as he has done so much for us. The least we can do is thank Him for what He has done for us! To give thanks for your food like Jesus did is not just a formality; it should be a day-by-day reminder that all we have comes from Him. What do we have that we have not been given? ( I Cor. 4:7)

Gratitude is linked with contentment and lack of contentment is one of the great sins of the modern world. If we had no-one at all to compare ourselves with than God, our values would be much different. "Needs" today are largely made-up lies and loaded on you by clever advertising. We have a floating set-point for what is O.K. and the only direction it can go without God is up without limit. G. K. Chesterton said "There are two ways to get enough. One is to accumulate more and more. One is to desire less."

In our "age of envy" covetousness is cool. We take even really dumb advertising lies seriously and give ourselves over to the lust of better and more. But both lies and envy are deadly serious SIN in Scripture. (Ex. 20:17; Deut. 5:21) Envy is a corrosive poison that rots and kills (Prov. 14:30; Job 5:2). How else can a kid get murdered for nothing more than having a pair of shoes someone else wants?

The Bible shows us ENVY is even more dangerous than violence (Prov. 27:4) Envy made Joseph's own brothers plot to kill him and sold him into slavery. (Acts 7:9) It was the root sin behind the betrayal of Jesus (Matt 27:18) and the theological religious riots against Paul. (Acts 13:45) A great deal of argument among even religious leaders comes out of simple arrogance and envy. (I Tim. 6:4) How much that goes on today in our world comes from lack of contentment and gratitude to God!

MAKE A HABIT OF THANKING GOD DAILY. This keeps you closer to God by staying in an atmosphere of prayer, and also reminds you of what He has done for you. It will guard your heart against darkness, depression and dangerous fantasy. (Rom. 1:21-22) It will help keep you content and grateful. It will give you power over the idol of "more". Giving thanks recognizes the power and mercy of God in your life.

A thankful heart is the condition of fearless witness and worship. Over thirty times in the Bible we are told to "Give thanks" to the Lord. (Ps. 118:1-29; Ps. 136:1-3) "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."(I Thess. 5:18) Godliness with contentment is great gain. (I Tim. 6:6)

Let this old hymn of gratitude be your song and your prayer:
"Great is Thy faithfulness, oh God my Father
There is no shadow of turning with Thee
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not
As Thou hast been Thou forever will be
Great is Thy Faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness
Morning by morning new mercies I seeB
All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness Lord unto me."