“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance (face): but by sorrow
of the heart the spirit is broken.” Proverbs 15:13 ”All of the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast.” Proverbs 15:15 “A merry heart does good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries the bones.” Proverbs 17:22 Since my last blog was about the capacity of a Christian to mourn over things that should be mourned over, I felt that I should follow it up with the other side of the emotional coin – a “merry heart.” While there are things that we should mourn, our lifestyles should reflect the joy that is in our hearts. Our hearts should be merry and it should show on our faces. If we have broken spirits we will not reflect the joy that is in our hearts. A broken spirit is the result of not being able to get over the mourning. This means that the negative things of life have depressed us and we can’t move on from them. Jesus told us not to worry, because worry cannot change anything. It is this worry over life’s negative things that cause our spirits to be broken. We are to meet all of life in faith. We are not only saved by faith, but we are sustained by faith as well. Faith will help us to meet all of the contingencies of life and still maintain merry hearts. We can take Paul as an example. When Paul wrote the Book of Philippians he was in jail in Rome, yet in this book he wrote about joy and rejoicing. An example is found in Philippians 2:17-18:‘Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. 18. For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.” One would think that Paul would be filled with complaints about his situation. What was Paul’s secret? If he mourned, it was over things that really mattered, and usually had something to do with someone else. He did not mourn over his own sufferings, but rejoiced that he could suffer for Jesus. This takes more than a “Sunday-go-to-meeting” faith. This takes a faith that is rooted deeply in the heart and makes a difference in the way we feel, the way we act and the way we look. Paul definitely did not have “a broken spirit that dries the bones.” We need to strive to have that kind of faith. I love to be around people who love to laugh. I understand that we cannot always laugh, because not everything can make us laugh. But I treasure the joy of laughter in my own life. I discovered years ago that, unlike other people, instead of having fits of crying when the going got hard, I would laugh “like a hyena.” I can remember when I was in college (o.k. it was a long time ago) when the pressure got almost unbearable, I would have fits of laughter. I’m not writing this to brag about my own faith, but to tell you that it is often better to laugh than to cry. A lot of the time, I was laughing at myself. If we have merry hearts, we will learn how to laugh at ourselves. I’ve known people who loved to play jokes on other people and would laugh and laugh at them. When the tables were turned and the joke was on them, they pouted and complained. That’s not a real Christian spirit. That’s not even a good human spirit. I am not implying that we should laugh and be merry all of the time. I have already written about times to mourn. I am simply stating that we will be better witnesses for Jesus, and better people, if we will allow the joy of Jesus in us to show on our faces. If you want to be a “contagious”Christian, I suggest that you work on having a merry heart and a face that reflects it. To start, I suggest that you take the advice of one of my seminary professors and go look in a mirror and laugh at yourself for awhile. He said that was a healthy outlook on life, and I agree. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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