Do you need cheering up? In a survey I read about women who spend too much, the #1 reason they gave for doing it was because buying things cheered them up. That's one reason behind a lot of negative behavior, including eating too much.
Even though you get an emotional high temporarily, you end up with negative consequences long term (debt, obesity). That's why you need healthy ways to cheer yourself up when you are feeling down.
Jesus had something to say about cheer in the Bible. I found at least four instances in which He told someone to be of "good cheer" and He always followed it up with a good reason!
So for the next four Mondays, I'll cover the reasons you can be cheerful using those scriptures. I think
we can all use a cheer boost on Mondays!
Here's the first scripture I found: "Then behold, they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you (Matthew 9:2)."
Your sins are forgiven too as a believer in Jesus Christ. I don't care if you don't feel forgiven; if you refuse to believe it, then you contradict this Biblical truth: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)."
When you believe you are forgiven and meditate on that, here are the results:
"Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever (Psalm 106:1)."
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"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered (Romans 4:7);"
"Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to
repentance (Romans 2:4)?"
Remember the #1 reason to be of good cheer today: You are forgiven!