Be-Cast Episode 11: BE CHEERFUL

New to podcasts and not sure what to do? Check out our Podcast 101 tutorial and we’ll walk you through it step by step!

Listen by clicking the Play button above or you can also listen here. And don’t forget to listen and subscribe to the Be-Cast on iTunes and have each week’s podcast is automatically downloaded to your computer, phone or tablet!

THIS WEEK’S VERSES:

“Bright eyes and a cheerful expression bring joy to the heart, and good news revives the spirit and renews health.” (Proverbs 15:30, The Voice) 

“Be happy, and celebrate all of the goodness of youth while you are young. Cultivate a cheerful heart every day you have youth.” (Ecclesiastes 11:9, The Voice)

“A miserable heart means a miserable life; a cheerful heart fills the day with song.” (Proverbs 15:15, The Message)

“And that’s about it, friends. Be cheerful.” (2 Corinithians 13:11-13)

“Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, The Message)

A MESSAGE FROM MONICA:

Y’all, Christmas is in nine days, and I still have gifts to purchase that need to get sent to the West Coast. We just got our family Christmas pictures taken yesterday (yes, yesterday!) which means it’ll be Tuesday before I get them back and can order the cards. Then they have to ship to me. Then I have to address and mail them.

(Which you know inevitably means I should just call it now and order Happy New Year cards instead.)

Not to mention my little guy just turned four and had a birthday party for him Saturday with 13 kiddos; I have a bajillion things to do for work before we close for break (thank you, Jesus, that churches close for a little bit over Christmas); and my husband keeps cracking jokes about the cobwebs in the corners of the house which aren’t really jokes at all.

But hey, BE OF GOOD CHEER, RIGHT?? 

In this week’s podcast, we talk about what it means to truly be cheerful. And in researching, we found some really awesome stuff.

In the Old Testament, the word cheerful almost always appears with the word heart. A cheerful heart has a continual feast…cultivate a cheerful heart…a cheerful heart is like good medicine…a cheerful heart fills the day with song…you get the idea.

So the Bible says that cheerful is the condition our heart should be in. But each time the Bible uses “cheerful heart” in the Old Testament, the word for heart is always the Hebrew word leb. And leb means “inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding.”

Isn’t that fascinating? Again, it’s flip-flopping the way we think that will bring transformation!

In essence, having a cheerful heart means to cultivate a glad, good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful mind and inner man.

Proverbs 17:22 in The Message says, “A cheerful disposition is good for your health.” One of the commentaries I read said that a literal translation would be, “A cheerful heart causes good healing.”

Gills exposition of the Bible says,

Cheerfulness does the body good, makes it healthful and vigorous. Cheerfulness of spirit has a great influence upon the body, and much contributes to the health and welfare of it (Ecclesiastes 9:7-9); and especially a heart full of spiritual joy, peace of conscience, flowing from the blood of Christ, joy in the Holy Spirit, a rejoicing in Christ Jesus and his righteousness, and in hope of the glory of God, much affect even the outward man. Or, “a merry heart makes a good medicine”; it is a good medicine of itself; raises the spirits, invigorates the body, and fits it for service and business: or, “does a medicine good”; makes that operate kindly, and to a good purpose: or, as Jarchi, makes the countenance shine well, makes a serene countenance.

What the Bible is telling us here is that our attitude, the way we approach the problems and trials of life, actually brings about good healing.

Isn’t that is amazing? It’s exactly what we talked about with Tracy a couple weeks ago, about how our emotions and feelings can affect our bodies.

Here’s something else we found that’s fascinating – in the New Testament, the phrase “be of good cheer” is found eight times.

Five of those times, it’s the exact same Greek word, tharseo which means “to be of good comfort, be of good courage, be of good cheer.”

And five times it was spoken by Jesus directly. Which sounds like a command to me.

Mark 6:50 is one of those times Jesus said it, when the disciples are on the stormy sea and Jesus calls out, “Be of good cheer. It is I. Don’t be afraid.

The Matthew Henry Commentary says of this that “if Christ’s disciples be not cheerful in a storm, it is their own fault, he would have them so.”

Um, ouch. 

It goes on to say,

It is healthful to be cheerful. The Lord is for the body, and has provided for it, not only meat, but medicine, and has here told us that the best medicine is a merry heart. He means a heart rejoicing in God, and serving him with gladness, and then taking the comfort of outward enjoyments and particularly that of pleasant conversation. It is a great mercy that God gives us leave to be cheerful and cause to be cheerful, especially if by his grace he gives us hearts to be cheerful.

It is by His grace He gives us hearts to be cheerful.

Despite the stresses of today and this week and this month and this season…He would have us to be cheerful.

Tharseo today my friends!

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:

1. Fake It Til You Make It. The Voice Translation of Proverbs 15:30 says “Bright eyes and a cheerful expression bring joy to the heart.” So, I thought we should put that to the test. What if, when you feel particularly not cheerful, just smile. Just smile and keep on smiling until your heart warms up.

2. Remember Who It Is. Jesus had to remind the disciples to be of good cheer, and he said “IT IS I.” I think sometimes we get so caught up in the circumstances and situations – running through conversations that never happen in our mind, consumed with worry and anxiety – that we forget to Be of Good Cheer Because IT IS HIM. So this week, as life happens and storms come and the waves threaten to overtake you, remember tharseo — be of good cheer, because He is there.

DOWNLOADS:

Download this week’s printable!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

1. Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequest. This post isn’t about cheerfulness specifically, but is so appropriate for this season…and helps guide you toward embracing a life that cultivates cheerfulness. It’s awesome.

2. 3 Keys that Salvage Any Christmas by Ann Voskamp. A lyrical post about True Cheer.