Daily Devotional

This is heaven: loving our neighbours as ourselves, forgiving one another without counting the cost, seeing the face of Jesus in the people who have offended you like Onesimus, welcoming the earth’s rejected, the sick, the imprisoned, and the orphans, giving to these little ones as much as a cup of water without expecting anything in return. The joy we feel when we help others sincerely is a foretaste of the joy of heaven.

Like most of us, these nine lepers didn’t think it necessary to give thanks. They probably saw their cure as a new problem. If we are to be people of gratitude (or desire to live very happy lives), we must learn to force our minds to look on the brighter side of things.

To be self-controlled means saying “no” to the impulses of the flesh, no matter how strong the temptations may be. It means to act right no matter what one feels inside. Self-control or self-discipline is not something we acquire from the blues; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; that is to say, self-control is one of the manifestations of the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. Hence, to be more self-controlled, we must pray constantly for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives.