Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A prosperous life”
Our Bible verse for today: “Dear friend, I pray that you may prosper in every way and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I was very glad when some brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth – how you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 3 John 2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “A prosperous life is a blessed life.”
Yesterday we began to consider what a truly prosperous life would look like. I suggested to you that there is much more to it than just having money and things. Now please don’t get me wrong, money is needed, and having more money is usually better than having less. Also, there is nothing necessarily wrong with having nice things. Beyond that, the Bible repeatedly urges us to be industrious, to work hard, to pay our own way through life, and to be good stewards of what God has given us. Some of the greatest figures in the Bible were financially very well off.
But as the Apostle John helps us to see in 3 John 2, true prosperity involves more than money and things. He writes that his prayer for the reader is that you may prosper in every way. That includes financially, but he then specifically also mentions good health and a soul that is prosperous too.
Good health is a key element to living well. Few things are as limiting in life as are health problems. Granted that some health problems are unavoidable; this world is filled with disease and sickness and at some point all of us will get sick and hurt. But much of the poor health people suffer from is self-imposed. Obesity, lack of exercise, and addictive substances are just a few of the issues that combine to destroy a person’s health but which could be avoided. To some degree every individual has control over those things. Regardless of your age and regardless of your current health, everyone can do the things necessary to remain as healthy as possible for as long as possible under the prevailing circumstances. And the healthier you are, the better your quality of life will be.
John also makes reference here to a soul that is prospering. Our Bible verse for yesterday was Psalm 1:1-3. In verse three of Psalm one, we read about a person with a prosperous soul: “He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”
How did the person get that way? Verse one tells us that the person intentionally avoids sin and instead “… his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night.” This person has a soul that is prospering. Some of those Haitian Christians I mentioned yesterday, the ones who were living in deep poverty but who radiated with joy anyway, they have prosperous souls. However that family I mentioned – the wealthy ones whose family life is a train wreck – they’re all professing Christians who are active in church, but they are soul-sick. In no way could there spiritual health be described as “a tree planted besides streams of water bearing good fruit in season.”
John’s point in those two short verses is that a truly prosperous life is healthy and thriving in all respects. He prayed that for them, and I pray it for you.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 