Publisher's Synopsis
The Bible is an honest Book. So it does not try to protect the guilty or sugarcoat their story. The Bible also does not try to distort or exaggerate the truth to advance the Lord's agenda. Therefore, a person can critically examine Bible characters, trust what he or she is reading, and then learn very much about the Lord, His Word, and His principles for living. For convenience and ease of use, the titles of all of the devotions in this book begin with the Bible character's name. That means that a reader can look up his or her favorite Bible character by name under Message Titles in the Index and quickly see all of the devotions that have been written about that person. The Index also contains a complete list of every Bible passage that has been referenced in this book. So a reader can also easily view those by looking under NT Bible References and OT Bible References. Because this book talks about almost every person in the Bible and almost every significant event, it is also a great resource for learning the important teachings of the Bible. This is the second edition of my Bible Character devotion book. The reason for it being totally rewritten is to clean up some really sloppy writing that dates back to 2003. So this revised edition will hopefully read much better and be much clearer than the earlier edition.
Now before concluding this Introduction, there is still one more important thing to share. It is that from a spiritual perspective, one might say that all people can be divided into the three groupings of J-O-Y, Y-O-J, or just Y. That being the case, it is the belief of this author that the most content and most satisfied people in all the world are the J-O-Y's. The least content and least satisfied are the Y-O-J's. The unhappiest and most miserable individuals are the Y's. So who are the J-O-Y's, the Y-O-J's, and the Y's? They are the individuals whom Jesus identified in Matthew 22:37-39. Those verses say, "...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." So based upon those verses, the letter "J" stands for Jesus. The letter "O" stands for others. The letter "Y" stands for yourself. So putting it all together, the most content, most satisfied people in this world are those who consistently put Jesus first, others second, and themselves last (J-O-Y). For example, the medical report is not so good. J-O-Y. The car breaks down. J-O-Y. This is not a really great day. J-O-Y. I did not want that to happen. J-O-Y. But the unhappiest and most miserable individuals in this world are the Y-O-J's and the Y's because they consistently put themselves before everyone else and everything else. So this devotion book has been written to try to daily encourage everyone to be a J-O-Y. That means that a good response to every situation in life is J-O-Y no matter how unpleasant the circumstance. However, the letter "J" means more than just to put the Lord first in one's heart and life. It is also a reminder that the Lord is in total control of everything. Nothing in this life happens either by accident or outside of His providential Will. When one remembers that, then even the most negative things in this life are less negative. That is not brainwashing or positive thinking. It is simply Bible truth.
