Cheerful
Originally scheduled for May 28
Mercy, by its very nature, is a gift. You cannot deserve mercy;
for mercy is what you get when you don’t deserve it. Indeed,
Christians memorize the phrase, “saved by grace.” The word grace in
the original means “a gift.”
In the Scriptures there are two
places that are translated with the word “cheerful” or
“cheerfulness.” One of them is the instruction that the Lord “loves
a cheerful giver” (2nd Corinthians 9:7). The other is in Romans 12:8
where we are advised that he who gives mercy is to do so with
cheerfulness. The connection between the two is in the root word for
each; it went from Greek to English and became our word,
“hilarious.” It apparently seems that God likes the giver who laughs
with joy at the act of giving, especially in giving mercy. It is a
point of divine style; God is not a resident thundercloud on your
shoulder scowling at all you do. Rather, he is one who enjoys
giving.
We can see this in the church. God’s greatest gift to us
was his Son (John 3:16). There are two occasions when we acknowledge
this.
· We celebrate
the incarnation of Christ; it’s called Christmas. As the song says,
“it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” Note the verb;
celebrate.
· And how do
we say that we are having communion this Sunday? Do we not use that
same verb and say, “we are celebrating Communion today”?
The
great gift of God, his grace, is received with celebration.
So today, as we celebrate communion, recognize in your mind that God
did not give this grace to us grudgingly, but with an giving,
cheerful heart. His mercy was not poured out upon you with a sour
look but with a laughing smile. Reflect upon this as you partake. It
may be this week that you will have the chance to show mercy to
someone. If so, will remember what your Lord is taught you about
style — do so with cheerfulness; perhaps, even, hilariously.
