Lately my dad and others have been concerned with my lack of cheerfulness, and for a while I blew him off saying that I was just becoming more mature and thinking realistically. But I am pretty sure that is just an excuse. :-) The truth is I don't feel cheerful. I have been worried about this or that, or this or that makes my heart heavy, and I remind myself of Eeyore. :-)
The world says (and the Bible says the world says), to know your heart is the most important thing. So my heart feels "uncheerful", therefore I am not cheerful. But that isn't truth. The Lord has given me a command to be cheerful.
"Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice." -Phil 4:4
If that were the only verse commanding me to rejoice, I might be able to make myself forget it. But if you have a chance you should check out Phil. 3:1, Hab. 3:18, Ps.32:11, Ps. 20:5, 1Chronicles 16:10, or 2Chronicles 6:4. What struck me the most about these verses is that they all claim to find joy from the same place. Has the Eeyore in me forgotten something?
All of these verses are talking about the salvation of their God. God has saved me and delivered me from death, destruction and judgement. Were I to have no other good thing in my life, no family, no health, no nothin', salvation and a relationship with the Everlasting Father should be enough to supply me with joy unspeakable.
Another verse says, (Proverbs 15:13) "A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken." The Lord has given me a heart of flesh and that is a happy thing that should give me a happy countenance. It is important that I learn to reject those "feelings" that forget God, and "un-happiness" is one of them.
Do you know what has made it so much easier to be cheerful? Remembering what I have to be cheerful about. Remembering the sacrifice of the Lord, remembering that one day I will be with Him, remembering that He has overcome this world already. When God corrects my thinking and gives me a "right mind" (Mark 5:15), it is easy to then correct my emotions and feelings. Eeyore is gone and rejoicing is finally here! That is the beauty of the Word of God and that is the grace He has poured out on me today.
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