The Right Medicine

16 Dec The Right Medicine

Verse of the Day:Proverbs 17:22
Thought for the Day: Choosing joy is the right medicine.

When I was a teenager, I knew next to nothing but that didn’t stop me from acting like an expert at all times. I can specifically remember a time I woke up feeling pretty nauseous. Rather than asking my parents for help, I wanted to do things my own way. So, I opened up the medicine cabinet and took two Tylenol with some water. An hour later, I was shocked because instead of feeling fine again, my nausea was a bit worse. What was the problem? I took the wrong medicine. Look on a bottle of Tylenol and you will see that the number one side effect is… nausea!

How often do we do this same thing in our lives when it comes to the challenges we face? Too often, we can find ourselves believing that continually complaining makes us feel better. For about ten minutes, venting can be helpful. But, once minute #11 hits, venting ends and we can find ourselves swimming in a sea of escalating despair. We find ourselves the guest of honor at our own pity party. And – rather than feeling better, we feel considerably worse! Endless complaining is the wrong medicine!

No matter the situations or circumstances each of us faces today, let’s remember an ancient Proverb found in the Old Testament: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” No one can make anyone else feel miserable – each of us has a choice every single day of our lives. Each of us is the only person who can throw our own pity party. So, when we encounter difficult times by wallowing in how horrible everything seems, our crushed spirits take over and everything suddenly seems even worse. When we choose joy, things slowly start to get better. Joy is the right medicine. God knows what we need, even when we don’t. Joy is His way, and His ways are far better than ours could ever be!

In Christ,
Pastors Stan and David