September 1

Good Cheer

Jesus said many times that we are to be of good cheer or to take heart. .. This simply a matter of faith in the benevolent creator interacting with us in a world that would otherwise be a hopeless pit


Proverbs 17
22 A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Who doesn’t know that “a cheerful heart is good medicine that that a crushed spirit dries up the bones?” The answer is that on any day of the week any one of us may forget it. We forget it anytime we allow ourselves to fall prey to too much analysis of the negative kind, or start remembering only the painful times, or focus on our feelings, or forget the blessings of our God in times when we saw no alternative to past pains.

Cheerfulness is more of a choice than we are often willing to believe. We may be depressed without knowing why but we can also choose to not allow such feelings stifle joy. Joy is a core gift of God. It comes from knowing through faith that God has ultimately given us reasons to hope and promises of resolution that will exceed any happy moment we have known. Joy is the awareness of a benevolent guide who will bring us through to greener pastures and into more profound delights because we have experienced and will experience his deliverance. In what we have experienced we need to give thanks. In what we hope for we need to remember that what God has done he can do again. That is why faith in the resurrection and words spoken to the disciples of the resurrected Lord are so powerful.

Jesus said many times that we are to be of good cheer or to take heart. Therefore, being of good cheer is a matter of the will and not of following our feelings in whatever direction they take us. When we do this we are simply exercising faith a matter of faith in the benevolent creator interacting with us in a world that would otherwise be a hopeless pit. It is not superficial happiness; it is receiving a gift that brings joy. Then it becomes a matter of tapping into that joy by a decision. How are you going to receive this day and respond to it?

John 16:33 (New King James Version)
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33 (New International Version)
33"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."