Complimentary Story
May 2026You have all heard it: “Have a good day.” It is one of those things that gives me a problem sometimes. What kind of a day must one have to have a good day? Must it be free from any kind of difficulty? Do they know that Jesus wants to give them a good day? Do they know that a good day could be full of troubles? Well, we have the recipe for a good day in the Bible. First Peter 3:10-11, “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 his seek peace and ensue it.”
It continues with this: “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” There we have it, how to have a good day! So when you wish a good day on someone, is it someone who is in line for a good day or is the face of the Lord against them? In this writing we want to think about what it takes to have a good day.
Keep thy tongue from evil
Jesus said; “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” The heart is a container and it is full of something. Our heart is full of love for self and the world, or it is full of love for God and others. “Keep thy heart with all diligence: for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). James 3:8 also says, “But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.” Thankfully, God can tame the tongue when we open our heart to His Holy Spirit and the Spirit brings to our heart His love. With His love we will have a tongue that blesses the lives of others.
Man is certainly capable of doing much damage with the tongue and can turn a good day into a bad one for themselves and others. He is also able to bless the lives of others when he follows the direction we have in Colossians 4:6. “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” This will bless others who hear what we say.
To have a good day, always be honest. Be honest with yourself as well as with others. Satan is a liar and he makes us liars also. We can deny what we really are and try to present ourselves as a good person when we are not good. A Christian is honest about himself. He understands that the only thing good about him is that goodness which God gives him. He freely owns the frailty of his humanity and the faults that that brings. He has good days because he is not a hypocrite. He is true.
Speak no guile
Guile is defined as “treacherous cunning and skilful deceit.” It is a continuation of the thought of trying to deceive others about who you are. It is what telemarketers use all the time. Some salesmen use guile also. Any type of deception will keep you from having a good day. You will always have that fear that someone will discover the truth of what you really are. Guile is practiced freely among those who call themselves Christians. We are all capable of practicing guile.
The true Christian has repented of the evil of his heart and of his nature. He has nothing to hide. He is open about all of life. Sometimes, in a moment of weakness, a Christian fails. He is tempted to try covering his failure or denying it, but that will not give you a good day. It is important to continue to be humble about ourselves and be sorry for any failures as they occur.
Guile is very much a part of today’s world. It is satanic in its origin and as the world moves further from truth, it will practice more guile. It contributes to the general sadness that abounds because so few can be trusted to be honest. This is one area where the light of Christianity shines bright — Christian honesty.
Eschew evil and do good
Evil is present everywhere. Our nature is bent towards evil and when we deny self, we are turning away from satisfying our nature and its evils and we turn toward God and good. Our life is not a matter of avoiding that which we know to be bad, but it is doing good deeds and seeking opportunities to help others overcome the evil of their lives. We witness of God’s saving grace and love. To the evil one, we tell him of a better way.
We can go about decrying the evils of our time and we can personally condemn the wicked. That would be eschewing evil, but to do good, we need to testify of God’s goodness in saving us from our sins and invite the wicked to join us in repentance and salvation. Witnessing often adds to the joy of a day as we recount the opportunity that God gave us to share the Good News to another.
In our homes and in our places of work is where we have the greatest opportunities to do good. It is there that we have good days when our hearts are filled with the love of Jesus and we relate to others in love.
Seek peace and ensue it
Man does not have peace naturally and he must seek it. This word “ensue” has the thought of following and overtaking. Peace is from God when we meet the conditions. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee.” (Isaiah 26:3). Here is the way to peace. Man’s sin will not give him peace. God has provided a way to be forgiven and that way does involve our repentance and godly sorrow. After the original repentance, we face temptations and failures and again these matters affect our peace. We can look at ourselves and as we do that, Satan brings accusations that disturb our peace. If we bring our minds back to God and remember His provisions and promises of forgiveness and grace, we can continue to have peace. That is ensuing peace.
However, peace is indeed fragile! We may be walking with the Lord and rejoicing in His care and then we get a phone call that sets off a chain of thoughts that disturb our peace. Or our husband has made a thoughtless comment that troubles our thoughts or our wife has complained about our neglect and our thoughts take a spin away from God and reality. We are confronted continually with things that invade our thoughts about God and His goodness. And it is, indeed, important to know how to bring our thoughts back to God who is sovereign over all.
While peace is fragile, it is also simple to obtain. I did not say “easy,” because the flesh does not die without a fight. The simplicity is found in John 3:14-15. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
We know the story of how Israel was murmuring and God sent poisonous snakes among them. Looking at the serpent of brass healed those who were bitten by snakes. When we are sorry for our sins and sinfulness, and believe that the sacrifice Jesus made of His own blood satisfied God, we have peace as we believe in the forgiveness of God. Look to Jesus and be saved! There is the simplicity.
Each day presents us with opportunities to love or hate, to covet or be content, to murmur or give thanks, to worry or to have faith, to envy, and be jealous. Our responses give us peace or turmoil. We are the ones who decide what it will be, so we decide if we will have a good day or not.
The only people that can have a good day are the true Christians. They keep their minds stayed on God. They see His movements in His Kingdom. They see His ruling in the affairs of world’s kingdoms. While the world increases in its wickedness, we have peace in our hearts because of the salvation brought to us through Jesus our Shepherd. It may be appropriate at times when wished a good day to share that 1 Peter 3:10-12 tells us how to have a “good day.”
Rod & Staff Publishers
W6053 County Rd. X
Withee, WI 54498
(715) 229-9400
