A RECIPE FOR A CHEERFUL HEART

A RECIPE FO= R A CHEERFUL HEART

PROVERBS 15= :13, 15, 20, 23

I’m going to share a recipe with you this morning—one that I hope you’ll keep and use often. I feel quite sure if you’ll = just try it, you will be glad you did. This is “A RECIPE FOR A CHEERFUL HEART,” and it just might be timely= for many of us.

We’re well into September now. Summer is over. The children are back in school. At first, this can be quite comfor= ting and reassuring—getting everything “back to normal,” you k= now.

But then all the obligations of normalcy begin to hit = us, all the responsibilities of school and work combined with the other demands= of life. Our summer vacation is becoming a distant memory and the next one seems a long way off. Know what I mean? It’s enough to get us down, = if we’re not careful. Dwel= l on such thoughts for long, and they can rob us of our joy.

Of course, as Christians, our minds know that nothing = can take away our joy—it’s just that our hearts don’t always = agree. So just about now, we may be needi= ng a good recipe for a cheerful heart.

If you’re a student of the Bible, you’re a= lready aware of the importance of happiness, and joy, and good cheer in Scripture. Our Heavenly Father obviously wants His children to be joyful.= We find this often in the New Testament, but it’s in the Old Testament as well.

Take the book of Proverbs. Look with me, please, at one chapt= er in this ancient book of wisdom, chapter 15.&n= bsp; See how often the ideals of happiness, cheerfulness, and joy are enc= ouraged in just this one chapter:

PROVERBS 15= :13, 15, 20, 23

¹³ A happy heart makes the face cheerful,
but heartache crushes the spirit.=

¹⁵ All the days of the oppressed= are wretched,
but the cheerful heart has a continual feast.

²⁰ A wise son brings joy to his father,
but a foolish man despises his mother.=

²³ A man finds joy in giving an apt reply—
and how good is a timely word!

So, in this one chapt= er of the Bible, we find the word “happy” once, “cheerful”= ; twice, and “joy” twice. = And this is only a brief sampling of the importance of joy and happiness in God’s word. =

I especially like this line: “the cheerful heart has a continual feast.” May= be it’s just me—I confess to enjoying food more than I should̵= 2;but I resonate with what this says: again, “the cheerful heart has a continual feast.”<= /p>

The thought occurs to me that, since we’re talki= ng “feast” here, a good recipe just might come in handy; so here we go. Now, a recipe needs to be simple. If it has a lot of ha= rd-to-find ingredients, most people won’t even try it—right?

So the recipe that I’m offering today is quite s= imple. It’s doable even for somebod= y like me! Let’s take a look, = then, remembering that the final culinary delight we’re after, the delectable dish on w= hich we hope to dine, is “a cheerful heart.”

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1. With = that, here’s INGREDIENT #1: FORGIVENESS. I= f you and I are to have happy hearts, this ingredient is simply indispensable. Or let me put it this way: I am convinced that the human heart is wired in such a way that there can be no = real joy, no lasting cheerfulness, without forgiveness. No forgiveness, no joy!

And here’s why.= Guilt and shame are part of every person’s life. Together, they cast a haunting, horrible shadow over our existence. They interfere with our relationsh= ips. They cause a tragic disconnect bet= ween us and the God who made us. T= hey lead to alienation between ourselves and others.

Sin that goes unforgiven, hurts that remain unresolved, shame that’s allowed to keep growing, will rob us of our health and o= ur happiness. And this is everybody’s prob= lem, friends. Nobody is exempt from guilt and shame.

The same Good News that sets us free from sin’s = power—the Gospel of Christ--first reminds us that WE need to be forgiven. We may be squeaky clean in the eye= s of the world, but we’re still “guilty as sin” before a right= eous God. Even if somehow we manag= ed to avoid committing any sin, there would still be those sins of omission when = we fail to do the good things we should. Bottom line: ALL have sinned.

And somewhere deep inside of us, we all know this. We sense our failure to live up to= God’s standards. Our consciences are built-in mechanisms which disturb us when we have failed God and one another.

Until we are forgiven, or until we have extended forgi= veness to those who have wronged us, there won’t be room for any real joy in= our lives—at least, not the kind that lasts.

A favorite saying of Jesus= , whose purpose it is to save us from our sin and guilt, is “cheer up.”= He said this often:

1) To the man who had been paralyzed since birth, Jesus said, “Cheer up! my son: your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2)

2) And when his disciples = were out in a boat in the middle of a storm, fearing for their lives, Jesus says to them, “Cheer up. It’s me. Don’t be afraid.”

3) Later, Jesus spoke to P= eter who was up to his neck in water, but I think this was really meant for all His disciples, both then and now—Jesus said, “O you of little faith, why are you so full of doubt?” (Matthew 14:27, 31)

4) And in the Upper Room, = when they were once again trying to deal with their doubts and fears, Jesus told them, “In the world you will have tribulation: but cheer up; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Are you beginning to see a= pattern here? Certainly one of the cl= ear messages we get from Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son is that when the boy returns to the Father, the forgiveness that the Father extends to his s= on results in dancing and celebration and feasting! The Father throws a party—a = party that would never have happened but for exuberance that results when forgive= ness is offered and accepted.

It’s a very unhappy crowd, friends, that does no= t know how to forgive, or cannot accept forgiveness when it’s offered. Cheerful hearts simply cannot exis= t without it!

2. So, t= he first ingredient is forgiveness; which brings us to INGREDIENT #2: FOCUS. Now, I do not mean by this that yo= u and I are to focus on achieving joy for ourselves, or that happiness, by itself, should be the aim of our lives. Actually, being that focused on our own happiness is a pretty good recipe for never finding it.

There’s a better way. I read a story about a group of Christian nurses who were serving in a hospital in Burma. During their Tuesday morning Bible study, the question was raised, “What does it take to make a Christian?”

They all agreed that repentance of sin and acceptance = of forgiveness in Christ was what put one in the Christian fold. But they also agreed that this was= just a beginning point, not the ultimate goal of Christian living.

They took this discussion to a deeper level by asking = what it takes to develop a truly Christian personality. Before these nurses finished, they= had listed over twenty-five characteristics that are needed for Christ-like liv= ing.

Faith was placed first on their list. Service and love followed close behind. But also on their lis= t was the characteristic that we’re considering today: “cheerfulness.” T= hey decided that cheerfulness must be part of a genuinely Christian personality= , especially for those who found themselves working daily among people who are suffering. These were nurses, remember?

Do you agree? <= /span>Is there something about a cheerful demeanor that is somehow connected to life= in Christ? We are told elsewhere= in Proverbs that “a cheerful heart is good medicine.”

And here’s a thought: is there anyone among us w= ho would choose a cranky nurse over a cheerful one? Or a cranky spouse or child or wai= tress or store clerk or preacher, for that matter???

Most worthwhile things in life are challenging. If we focus on ourselves and all the effort we’re expending and the lack of appreciation we’re getti= ng, then we’re obviously not focusing on what we’re doing and the people= we should be serving. And that&#= 8217;s just another recipe for unhappiness.

When Jesus Christ gets hold of our hearts, He changes = our focus. He redirects our atten= tion to the people and ministries that He’s concerned about in this world. We begin to truly R= 20;see,” with fresh eyes, the lost, the lonely, the hurting, hungry, homeless.

We also see one another in a new light and pick up on = needs and concerns in each other’s lives that those who are devoted only to themselves will overlook. And= all this is related to our happiness: for in the process of seeing, caring, and responding, we find joy. We f= ind life in abundance.

There is a cheerfulness that results from losing the f= ocus on ourselves in order to refocus on Christ and others. A cheerful heart requires such a r= efocusing of our lives.

3. Now, = to forgiveness and focus, we need to add one other ingredient--INGREDIENT #3: = FAITH. Faith enables us to experien= ce joy even in the midst of difficult days.

The Psalmist speaks of “walking through the vall= ey of the shadow of death,” and yet “fearing no evil.” Why? Because “Thou art with me.” That’s faith= ; and it’s powerful.

We all have these dark valley experiences in life̵= 2;no one is exempt. Some seem to h= ave them in greater number than others, or their valleys appear deeper perhaps—and we usually are at a loss to explain why. We may not be responsible for life’s troubles, but we are responsible for what we allow them to do = to us—and for us.

We can let the problems overwhelm us, for instance. We can give up and live with defea= ted and downcast spirits. But the= re is a better way. It’s the = way of faith--placing all our trust in a Heavenly Father who has promised to work = through the circumstances of our lives for our good if we love Him and follow His l= ead.

You may remember the woman who touched Jesus’ ro= be as He was making His way through a crowd.&nbs= p; She had been dealing with an illness that no one had been able to cu= re. Many people had touched Him, but J= esus recognized the intention behind this woman’s touch, and said to her: “Cheer up! Daughter, your faith has made you well.” (Luke 8:48)=

And again, listen to Jesus’ words to His discipl= es there in the Upper Room just before going out to face the cross—from = the Contemporary English Version: “While you are in the world, you will h= ave to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.” (John 16:33)

Jesus wants you and me to understand that we don’= ;t have to fight life’s battles alone. We will suffer in this world, but it will never ultimately defeat us. Why? Because Jesus says: “I have defeated the world.” So, “cheer up!”

This is our faith, friends. The cheerful heart is inseparably = linked to faith—the commitment we make to follow Christ Jesus as Savior and = Lord of our lives.

I love the way Charles Wesley expressed this in one of= his great hymns: “Love Divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven to earth come down…” The v= erse ends, “Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart.̶= 1;

Here’s a “heart test:” when you thin= k of Christ, does “the joy of heaven” come to mind for you? “Joy of heaven to earth come down!” If this is not y= our image of the Lord, maybe you’ve somehow gotten the wrong picture.

Maybe you don’t have any trouble visualizing Chr= ist saying to you “clean up” or “straighten up” or R= 20;wake up,” “listen up,” “grow up.” And maybe this IS what He SHOULD s= ay to us. And He does at times, but= He doesn’t start there.

Instead, Jesus Christ, the JOY of heaven, came down to planet Earth to say to all of us trembling, burdened, bewildered, guilty, anxious, depressed people, “CHEER UP!” I have come that you might have hop= e and joy, peace and life.

I have come…to forgive your sins and help you fo= rgive others,

…to focus your life on the things that matter mo= st,

…and to fill your heart with saving, life-changi= ng faith.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have every reas= on to…CHEER UP! Put that i= n your oven and bake it!