Recipe for a Good Day
Donnie V. Rader

Have you ever had a bad day? Do you ever have those days when nothing seems to go right? Does it ever feel like the pressures of life pile up some days? If you haven’t, you’re unlike the rest of us. We all have those days. However, Peter said something that will help during those times. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. (1 Peter 3:10-1)

We can make our days good. If we determine to have a good day—we will! This doesn’t mean that we won’t have some bad days. There will be times that we are sad and even depressed. We will be sick some days. Things will not always go right or the way we expect them to. This doesn’t mean that when we have such days that it is always our fault or that we have sinned. Yet, we can make even those days better. We have some control.

Life is too short not to enjoy living and having good days. The Bible gives us the recipe for having a good day. The following are some things that I have thought upon for sometime. They have helped me a great deal. I believe that I have better days and am a better person as a result of adhering to these points. Every one of the rules is a part of eschewing evil, doing good and seeking peace.

Begin your day with prayer. What better way can you think of to start the day off right? Jesus taught that men ought always to pray (Luke 18:1) The reasons are obvious. How refreshing it is to spend some time with God in prayer in the morning.

We have so much to pray for when we rise to begin a new day. We ought to thank God for the night’s rest and another day. We should pray for God’s protection and care throughout the day. We will need His help in overcoming temptations that we will face (Matthew 6:13). We should pray for strength and help to make it through the day (1 Peter 5:7). I realize more and more each day how much I have to depend upon God and His power. I need and want to begin my day with prayer.

We also need to pray for God’s help in our following the recipe for a good day.

Look at life through (Hebrews 13:14). When we awake we should put on the glasses of faith and view the world through the statement, For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Then, we will realize that nothing in this world is continuing or abiding. All is temporary. All that really matters is being right with God. Everything else is not all that important. Whether or not I have a fine home, a late model car, the latest fashion or a sizeable bank account doesn’t matter. Whether or not I have a good education, am popular, have a lot of abilities or am successful in business doesn’t really matter. So what if I have little or no money, fewer talents than others or wear second-hand clothes, that’s not going to ruin my day.

Realize that mistakes and inability are not failures. If we let them, such can look like monumental failures. We are human; we will make mistakes and even sin (1 John 1:8). That’s true of all. Even men like Paul, Peter and James made mistakes.

We must realize that some of us just have fewer abilities than others. This is quite clear from the parable of the talents (Matthew 25).

We must also understand that we will make mistakes, but those mistakes are not failures. If we serve God faithfully, we are a success (Joshua 1:8). Learn not to dwell upon those past mistakes, but rather look to the future (Philippians 3:13).

Realize that there will be problems; all have them. Everything is not going to be as I want it. There will be disappointments and change of plans. There will be those times when things just don’t fall in place. Everyone shares in these experiences. Job faced problem on top of problem. We sometimes could wish as David did that we had wings like a dove, for then we would fly away and be at rest (Psalms 55:6-7). The words of Ann Johnson Flynt say it well:

Exercise patience throughout the day. Patience is bearing with the problems and trials without complaint. We must add patience to our faith (2 Peter 1:5-10). We need to be patient with ourselves, our mistakes, failures and inability. Patience is needed in dealing with the problems of life (James 5:11). We must be longsuffering in overcoming sin and weaknesses. No case is hopeless. With God’s help, we can overcome our problems and sins (Philippians 4:13)

Be temperate. Temperance is self-control. It is easy to let our tempers get out of hand and “fly off the handle.” Self-control doesn’t come easy. We must continually work at it. Nevertheless, God requires it (2 Peter 1:5-10).

When we are temperate things will go better throughout the day. We will get along with others. It just makes for a better day.

Don’t worry. Some folks can ruin their day worrying about things that don’t really matter anyway. We worry about what did happen, what could have happened and what is going to happen. However, worry doesn’t do one bit of good. Jesus said that a man cannot add one cubit to his stature by worrying about it (Matthew 6:27). If you can do something about the matter, do it and quit worrying. If not, what will the worrying accomplish? We need to learn to cast our cares upon God (1 Peter 5:7)

Don’t let life get you down. Too many let the affairs of life bother them. It keeps them wound up and uptight. When this happens, they become fretful about life in general. Again, we must learn to talk to God about our problems. Also, our thoughts must be redirected to dwell on the good and pleasant (Philippians 4:6-8)

Be happy. Some apparently think that happiness is something that just happens to you. If you’re not happy, you can’t help it. However, God commands us to rejoice (Philippians 4:4). We must work at it. It is something we have to learn to do. We must try to be happy in spite of any problems and trials we may have.

Be content. When one is discontented he is unhappy and thus has a bad day. Sometimes we complain if we don’t get our way. That not only ruins our day, but it messes things up for others as well. If we could only learn to be satisfied (1 Timothy 6:8), we would have good days. Paul learned to be content in whatever state he was (Philippians 4:11). The Hebrews were told to be content with such things as they had (Hebrews 13:5).

Let’s try to eliminate those bad days. We can purposely have many good days. Serve God faithfully and you will see good days.

Searching the Scriptures October 1985

CHURCH HISTORY: A BIBLICAL VIEW
Part III - No. 15 Compiled and written by Gary Eubanks

I. The Growth of Papal Power

The "official" end of the Roman Empire is usually viewed as the deposition of the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, by the German general, Odoacer, in 476 A.D. However, the process of deterioration in the Empire had begun long before that date. The collapse of the Roman Empire plunged the Western world into a long period of depression and chaos known as the "Dark Ages," but the Roman Church did not share the fate of the Empire. Actually, the collapse of the Empire before the barbarian hordes served the interests of the Roman Church in that it left the Church as the one stable and durable institution in the midst of a political and cultural morass. As men looked more and more to the Roman Church for guidance and stabilizing force the Church began to assume the role left to it by a decaying political system. Thus, the fall of Rome was just another step in a long series of steps toward the primacy of the Roman bishop.

The sons of Constantine had convened the Council of Sardica in 343 in an effort to resolve the controversy gendered by Arianism. In this effort the Council was a failure, but it is noteworthy that the Council did decide that a deposed bishop had the right to appeal his case to the Roman bishop, who could call for a retrial and keep the episcopal seat at issue vacant until a decision was made known by Rome.

The primacy of the Roman bishop was also advanced by a couple of its more ardent advocates who served as bishops of Rome. Innocent I (402-417) claimed that the Roman Church was the custodian of apostolic tradition and that its bishop had universal jurisdiction. Leo I (440-461) taught that Peter had primacy among the apostles and that this primacy was passed on to his successors. Despite these bold assertions, the Council of Chalcedon (451) placed Constantinople on a practical equality with Rome. (Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Constantinople, which survived the fall of Rome and served as the capital of the Byzantine Empire for another thousand years.) This was just another harbinger of the schism that was developing between the East and West, but the primacy of the Roman bishop was being set forth in theory even though it was not yet fully observed in practice.

Several important observations need to be made about the developing theory of the primacy of the Roman Church and its bishop. (1) The Scriptures do not teach that Peter had primacy among the apostles. As a matter of fact, they teach that he was no more than their equal (Matt. 20:20-28; 23:8-12; Acts 15:1-29; Gal. 2:1-14). (2) The Scriptures make no provision for the perpetuation of the apostolic office. Particularly, they do not provide for any successors to Peter's supposed primacy. A personal, post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to one was essential to his accession to the apostolate (Acts 1:21,22), and Paul said that he was the last one to whom Jesus appeared (I Cor. 15:8). This implies that Paul was the last one even qualified to be an apostle. Again, when Matthias was chosen to replace Judas it was not by any deliberative or voting process among the apostles but rather by means of God's direct intervention in what would otherwise have been a selection by mere chance (Acts 1:21-26). (3) Even if Peter had had primacy among the apostles and others are to succeed him in that primacy, the Scriptures certainly do not teach the successor must always be the bishop of the Church in Rome. The Scriptures do not even say that the Roman church had bishops, much less that Peter was ever one of them. Neither do they teach that the Roman church,, as opposed to, or in addition to, the Scriptures, was to be the reservoir or preserver of apostolic teaching. The papal system requires many Scripturally unfounded assumptions.

II. The Growth of Monasticism

Monasticism is essentially seclusion from the world for religious purposes and usually involves ascetic practices to some degree. The beginning of monasticism in the Church is traced to Anthony (b. 250) in Egypt. In his youth he sold his possessions, and went into solitude, engaging in prayer and the strictest self-denial. A certain Pachomius supposedly improved monasticism by establishing the first monasteries. Thus, two types of monasticism developed: (1) the hermitic, which involved isolation from other individuals, and (2) cenobitic, which involved communal living. In the first half of the Sixth Century the Benedictine order was established with its emphasis upon frequent periods of common worship, manual labor, and study.

There were several reasons why the monastic life appealed to some individuals. (1) The letup in Roman persecutions allowed for a great increase in converts, many of whom were not serious-minded or were outright worldly. Some, therefore, sought higher levels of spirituality by physical separation from the Church at large. (2) A cessation of martyrdoms left monasticism as the greatest sign of the highest level of spirituality to which one could aspire. (3) For some monasticism was a mere flight from the world. (4) The ancients also esteemed more highly the virtue of a contemplative life than that of active service to mankind. (5) Growing formalism in worship led some to seek a more individual approach to God through monasticism.

Of course, there are also a number of Scriptural problems with monasticism. (1) It creates a double standard between the monk and the ordinary Church-member. Why would it be right for the ordinary Church-member to do what would be wrong for the monk? (2) As a corollary to the preceding point, monasticism encourages sub-standard holiness on the part of the ordinary Church-member. (3) Monasticism is not taught in the Scriptures. Quite to the contrary, separation from the world is condemned (Jn. 17:1416; I Cor. 5:9-11). Christians are to go into the world (Mk. 16:15) and be its salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16; 9:10-13). How can they accomplish this task if they shut themselves off from the world? Furthermore, the asceticism of monasticism is condemned as valueless and unholy (Col. 2:23; I Tim. 4:1-5). 

Some Suggestions For Your Daily Routine
Greg Gwin

We all have some things that we do with great regularity. Certain activities are a part of every day - things like bathing, dressing, brushing teeth, etc. Each person will have other unique practices that are incorporated into their normal routine. And, while it is possible to "get in a rut," some of this regularity is important and helpful in making us more efficient individuals. With that idea in mind, we'd like to suggest some things that ought to become a regular part of every Christian's daily routine. Every day we should...

Pray. Pray daily for your fellow Christians, especially remembering the sick, the bereaved, those who are spiritually weak, those laboring under heavy burdens, and others who have special needs. Don't let these prayers be totally "general" in nature. Think of specific individuals and mention them by name in your prayers.

Give. Thanks. In the course of your prayers, do not neglect to thank the Heavenly Father for all the wonderful blessings that He gives us. Again, be specific. Taking the time to "count your blessings" every day will help you to gain a greater appreciation for what God has done for you. Especially spend time contemplating the great spiritual blessings we have in Christ.

Study. Find some time each day to spend in the study of God's Word. Get up a few minutes earlier each day, break away in the middle of the day, or make time in the evening - but by all means study the Word. This will help you to resist temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) and prepare you to explain your faith to others (1 Peter 3:15).

Serve. The Christian's life is to be a life of service (Mark lO:43,44). Instead of waiting for others to do things for you, look for some opportunity every day to do some deed of kindness for another individual. Your life will be happier if you concentrate less on self and more on others.