First Notes: Be Ye Glad
Dear First Baptist Family,
A few years ago, I began seriously thinking about what gets people through hard times. What makes the difference between someone who not only survives a crisis, but thrives, while others seem to wither?
I began to make a mental checklist. Certainly faith tops the list for what helps someone in a difficult season. Hanging on to the hope of Christ really can make all the difference if you're battling in illness, facing a marriage crisis, or feeling overwhelming anxiety.
Relationships, especially strong friendships, can also lift you up when you're down. Investing in those friendships is a good strategy when life feels low. Other factors include taking time to rest, getting fresh air and exercise, and eating a healthy diet.
But there's one more factor that I have come to believe really helps. Good humor.
Cheerfulness and the ability to keep laughing can see you through hard times. Life can knock the life out of you. That’s guaranteed. But often it's not as bad as we think it may be.
Laughter lightens the load. It keeps the face young and makes us better friends to others.
This isn't merely a "turn that smile upside down" kind of false levity. There's definitely a time to mourn and a time to be more reflective and somber. Genuine cheerfulness does not deny the hard circumstances of life.
Instead, allowing yourself to keep trusting in the Lord and remembering that the joy of the Lord is your strength really can change your life.
If you're struggling to have a cheerful disposition, let me encourage you with these words.
A Cheerful Heart
The Bible says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).
Almost all of us know what it feels like to have a crushed spirit. A cheerful heart, however, has the capacity to bring healing. It's good medicine.
I recently heard the story of Dr. Norman Cousins, who for a number of years was on the medical staff at the UCLA School of Medicine. Around 1970, Dr. Cousins was diagnosed with a rare disease that destroys the body’s connective tissue. The doctors gave him lots of expensive tests and said, “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do. It is degenerative. You are going to die.”
Dr. Cousins said, “Well, I didn’t want to just give up.” So he created a regimen of exercise and high doses of Vitamin C. Then he added an unusual thing. He rented a projector and watched all the cartoons, Marx Brothers movies, and Three Stooges episodes he could find. For hours each day, he would take his Vitamin C and laugh his head off. What he discovered was that ten minutes of hearty laughter gave him a whole hour free from pain.
So he would watch those movies over and over and over again. He then discovered that he began to get better. He went back to the doctors and they said, “We don’t know what happened, because this was an incurable disease; as far as we know, you are completely cured.” He lived about another 20 years and wrote a book called Anatomy of an Illness, in which he said that your mental attitude, the cheerfulness or lack thereof, has a great deal to do with whether you get sick, the degree to which you get sick, whether you get well, and how quickly you get well.
Of course, not everyone would have that same result. But surely some laughter and a fresh perspective can do any heart good.
A Cheerful Generosity
There's a correlation between cheerfulness and charity. Those with a positive outlook are often the best and most sacrificial givers. They know everything is a gift and every day is precious.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV).
I once heard a preacher say that God loves a cheerful giver, but He'll take money from a scrooge! How much better it is, however, when giving flows from a cheerful heart.
I'm proud of what our church is accomplishing together and I hope you are, too. We're making a difference in the city of Knoxville and beyond. It takes all of us. As we are generous, we can expect the joy to rise among us.
A Cheerful Witness
Finally, God's people need to be marked with a cheerful disposition that naturally spreads the message and joy of God. Nobody is berated into the kingdom; people are loved into the kingdom. Cheerfulness can be surprising in a world that constantly reminds us what's wrong.
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health” (Proverbs 15:30, NLT). Our witness starts with a look that conveys love. Then, when we share the good news of God, it is truly received as good — good for salvation, good for the renewal of the mind, good for the body, and good for the community.
Isaiah 65:18 says, ”Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (KJV).
Be ye glad!
With love,
Pastor Brent McDougal
A few years ago, I began seriously thinking about what gets people through hard times. What makes the difference between someone who not only survives a crisis, but thrives, while others seem to wither?
I began to make a mental checklist. Certainly faith tops the list for what helps someone in a difficult season. Hanging on to the hope of Christ really can make all the difference if you're battling in illness, facing a marriage crisis, or feeling overwhelming anxiety.
Relationships, especially strong friendships, can also lift you up when you're down. Investing in those friendships is a good strategy when life feels low. Other factors include taking time to rest, getting fresh air and exercise, and eating a healthy diet.
But there's one more factor that I have come to believe really helps. Good humor.
Cheerfulness and the ability to keep laughing can see you through hard times. Life can knock the life out of you. That’s guaranteed. But often it's not as bad as we think it may be.
Laughter lightens the load. It keeps the face young and makes us better friends to others.
This isn't merely a "turn that smile upside down" kind of false levity. There's definitely a time to mourn and a time to be more reflective and somber. Genuine cheerfulness does not deny the hard circumstances of life.
Instead, allowing yourself to keep trusting in the Lord and remembering that the joy of the Lord is your strength really can change your life.
If you're struggling to have a cheerful disposition, let me encourage you with these words.
A Cheerful Heart
The Bible says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22, NIV).
Almost all of us know what it feels like to have a crushed spirit. A cheerful heart, however, has the capacity to bring healing. It's good medicine.
I recently heard the story of Dr. Norman Cousins, who for a number of years was on the medical staff at the UCLA School of Medicine. Around 1970, Dr. Cousins was diagnosed with a rare disease that destroys the body’s connective tissue. The doctors gave him lots of expensive tests and said, “Sorry, there’s nothing we can do. It is degenerative. You are going to die.”
Dr. Cousins said, “Well, I didn’t want to just give up.” So he created a regimen of exercise and high doses of Vitamin C. Then he added an unusual thing. He rented a projector and watched all the cartoons, Marx Brothers movies, and Three Stooges episodes he could find. For hours each day, he would take his Vitamin C and laugh his head off. What he discovered was that ten minutes of hearty laughter gave him a whole hour free from pain.
So he would watch those movies over and over and over again. He then discovered that he began to get better. He went back to the doctors and they said, “We don’t know what happened, because this was an incurable disease; as far as we know, you are completely cured.” He lived about another 20 years and wrote a book called Anatomy of an Illness, in which he said that your mental attitude, the cheerfulness or lack thereof, has a great deal to do with whether you get sick, the degree to which you get sick, whether you get well, and how quickly you get well.
Of course, not everyone would have that same result. But surely some laughter and a fresh perspective can do any heart good.
A Cheerful Generosity
There's a correlation between cheerfulness and charity. Those with a positive outlook are often the best and most sacrificial givers. They know everything is a gift and every day is precious.
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV).
I once heard a preacher say that God loves a cheerful giver, but He'll take money from a scrooge! How much better it is, however, when giving flows from a cheerful heart.
I'm proud of what our church is accomplishing together and I hope you are, too. We're making a difference in the city of Knoxville and beyond. It takes all of us. As we are generous, we can expect the joy to rise among us.
A Cheerful Witness
Finally, God's people need to be marked with a cheerful disposition that naturally spreads the message and joy of God. Nobody is berated into the kingdom; people are loved into the kingdom. Cheerfulness can be surprising in a world that constantly reminds us what's wrong.
“A cheerful look brings joy to the heart; good news makes for good health” (Proverbs 15:30, NLT). Our witness starts with a look that conveys love. Then, when we share the good news of God, it is truly received as good — good for salvation, good for the renewal of the mind, good for the body, and good for the community.
Isaiah 65:18 says, ”Be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” (KJV).
Be ye glad!
With love,
Pastor Brent McDougal
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