“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance...he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast…A merry heart doeth good like a medicine…eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart…[The] people…[were] glad and merry in heart for the goodness [of] the LORD…”
(Prov. 15:13,15;17:22;Eccl. 9:7; 2 Chr. 7:10)
A gloom and doom spirit, I think, is the poorest of all advertisements for Christianity. Those in such a morbid melancholy state will see only the backs and not the faces of those to whom they recommend it, as they walk away in utter disgust. You can’t sell a product to someone who feels it is inferior to what he already has.
True Biblical cheerfulness originates in the heart. It has nothing to do with what is going on around us but what is going on inside us! When it is in us, it will invariably radiate out through us. It is a continual feasting, without fear, as we eat and drink at His table. It’s the medicine that heals our soul. It comes from a “God is Good,” attitude.
Nothing can affect both our physical and Spiritual health in a negative way like cheerlessness. On the other hand, there is nothing that can revive both body and soul like a God-given cheerfulness! We might say, cheerfulness is just what the DOCTOR ordered. By the way, He still makes old-fashioned house calls, even late at night!
Paul mentions being of good cheer three time in the midst of the worst of storms. How could this be?
“And now I exhort you to be of good cheer…. For there stood by me this night the angel of God…. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me… Then were they all of good cheer.”
(Acts 27:22,23,25,36)
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