"Be of Good Cheer!"

“Be of Good Cheer”
One of the ways God blesses and encourages my heart is through those many, many friends and family He has given Minnie and me through the many years of our life together. So when I returned from those refreshing two weeks with Jon & family in Petaluma, a beautiful town in California, and Jeannine & Chris in their lovely “Evergreen” village in the mountains of Colorado, I was pleased to find so many Christmas cards and Christmas letters and e-mails awaiting me. And I think there will be more still coming. Some of you I hear from only once a year at Christmas time and that’s fine. It’s a good way to stay in contact with many whom we have loved through the years. And I have several that I will be responding to before long.

They were cheerful letters and e-mails and they told a bit of the story of their lives in this past year. (By the way, I have started on my Christmas Letter and expect to finish it and send it before January 13.) So many of you have expressed love and comfort for me in this first Christmas since 1955 without Minnie. And you told me of so many of life’s problems–cancer and other health problems; jobs lost; homes vacated; financial problems; separations from loved ones; children not walking with the Lord; depression and discouragement; uncertainty of the future; some have even faced divorce. And others have had the stability and support of family and friends to help them.

And yet your attitude was one of good cheer and encouragement as you face an uncertain future. (Uncertain in the immediate future, but not uncertain in the longer perspective of eternity.) It seems to me this reflects what Jesus told His disciples just before His death, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” And He gave them His legacy of peace so that they might face the difficulties of life: “ These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.” “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 16:33; 14:27 We can be of good cheer because He has already won the victory on the cross and His Presence abides with us now and forever. Our future is assured and secure. Take the long perspective.

The Apostle Peter said the same thing: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13

Accept the difficulties of this life as part of the cross we must take up daily to follow Christ and realize that God is accomplishing eternal values in what He, in His providence, brings your way or allows into your life. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are [temporary], but the things that are unseen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:16-18 ESV

Let me offer you a suggestion for the New Year which begins tomorrow: get a copy of Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and read it every day along with your regular Bible reading. In the morning, as you know, Minnie and I read the Psalms together for 54 years and during her last three years we read and re-read the New Testament aloud together and Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and other good books. It was such a blessing to both of us and Minnie, even when she was nauseated or suffering, she was always of good cheer. In fact during her last week when she saw the sorrow in our eyes, she tried to cheer us up–and she did!

And one of the ways she cheered those around her bedside was with her thankful spirit. She was thankful for the simple things of life and for whatever came to her from the good hand of our God. Shouldn’t we be thankful that we are not starving or suffering great pain? We are not in a slave labor camp. And you’re not enslaved by drug addiction or alcoholism (at least I hope you’re not!) You have friends and family and adequate resources and a relatively peaceful life to live. Think of the persecuted church in so many places in the world and be thankful for the peace and freedoms we have.

Minnie often said that one day she would see our Lord “face to face.” And now she has! Think of how much better off she is Christmas 2010 compared to what she was experiencing just a year ago Christmas 2009. She would not want to return from the glory she is presently experiencing in the presence of the Lord where all is peace and joy and love. She has complete satisfaction and happiness because scripture says, “As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” Psalm 17:15

It also says “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Blessed indeed," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" Rev. 14:13 “Blessed” means “favored of God,” but it also means perfect “happiness.”

My oldest great-granddaughter asked me today when we were walking from Walmart to our car what Mimi was doing and did she have a body. And I told her that she would have a glorified body after the Resurrection but now if she is just “spirit,” that it is quite all right because she is with the Lord (“absent from the body, present with the Lord”) and Jesus Himself has told us that He has gone to prepare a place for us. John 14:1 And that place is prepared especially for Mimi and she is very happy where she is living now. (It is so encouraging to me that our 11-year old would ask questions like that. We often speak casually about Minnie and how much better off she is now than when she had pancreatic cancer.)

Anticipate what lies ahead. The future is glorious. We often speak of the return of Christ as “the blessed hope” but we have “another blessed hope,” our anticipation of living eternally in heaven and sharing life with the Lord Jesus and His people. “Hope” in scripture means “expectation” or “anticipation” of what must surely take place. “We shall meet Him ourselves face to face, To the Praise of His glorious grace!”
–Pastor Burnside
http://www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/morningandevening/550586/