How to Have a Merry Heart
How do we gain a merry heart? There are many positive and beneficial things about having a merry heart.
“A merry heart does good like a medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).
“A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance” (Proverbs 15:13).
“[She] that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15).
From a merry heart comes a cheerful countenance and a continual feast. It is like good medicine without the negative side effects! It’s not faking being happy that makes a merry heart. It’s a matter of what we dwell upon. If we feed upon the news, soap operas, and the filth in our culture, we will never have a merry heart. Satan’s goal is to make people have dark hearts full of negativity, pessimism, bitterness, and anger.
God gives us some instructions on how to have a merry heart. We are to be continually renewing our minds with God’s Truth; for this is what transforms us. We are to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We are to dwell on the lovely and the good and let NO unwholesome word come out of our mouths. We love others more than we love ourselves. We serve others and are generous. This is God’s prescription for having a merry heart!
When you wake up in the morning, let the first thing that comes out of your mouth be, “This is the day that the Lord hath made! I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Thank the Lord for His many blessings. Thank Him for the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the roof over your head, and the relationships that you have. Thank Him for what He accomplished on the cross for you, your sins are all forgiven, and you are now in Christ. Forgive others freely, too. Be thankful!
Dwell on the good in others. Kick out the negative. Give it to the Lord and allow Him to convict and change others. He wants us to give Him our burdens. We aren’t meant to carry them. Memorize Romans 6 and 8. Learn who you are in Christ and the freedom that He has given us! We don’t need self-esteem. We need Christ-esteem! We are nothing without Him but we have everything we need for life and godliness in Christ! We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us and the joy of the Lord is our strength.
Let His Word dwell in you richly, women. I can’t say this enough. God’s people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge and they are being easily led astray since they aren’t knowledgeable in the Word of God. We gain wisdom from being in His Word. You won’t be wise women if you aren’t in the Word consistently.
Learn to love His Word and you will grow more in love with Him! Then, most likely, you will have a merry heart.
The joy of the Lord is your strength.
Nehemiah 8:10
12 thoughts on “How to Have a Merry Heart”
Some suggestions:
Be grateful for the children so many women couldn’t conceive or just throw away like trash
The man who vowed to provide for you and protect you for life
The life lessons good and bad
The realization how much worse off many are than you despite your troubles
Living out your womanhood to the fullest with a man who lets you be the homemaker as many men won’t due to feminism…
Yes! So much of our culture is negative. Every show on tv seems to be fatalistic or apocalyptic where every one has a chip on their shoulder. There is an attitude of disunity and victimhood in our country. I think it is the perfect time for Christians to stand out from the crowd with grateful attitudes, kindness and true hope for our future. Others are so mired in anxiety and darkness our light really can shine brighter.
“Let His Word dwell in you richly, women. I can’t say this enough. God’s people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge and they are being easily led astray since they aren’t knowledgeable in the Word of God.”
I love this! We must let His Word dwell in us. Turn off the horrible music on the radio and turn on the Bible (I love Alexander Scourby’s reading and it can be found on YouTube) instead. Singing hymns and psalms often helps to lift my spirits – especially in the midst of lots of chores.
Wives and mamas often don’t realize that we set the mood for our homes. If we are grumpy, cross, and emotional then the rest of the family will be too. If we are merry, sweet, joyful, and loving then the rest of the family will follow! A wife with a smile and merry countenance is always far lovelier than a beautiful woman with a scowl on her face.
Thank you Lori! I have only recently come across your blog, but it has become part of my daily reading!
I was wondering if you had any thoughts on women wearing makeup. I have never worn makeup, as I was taught that makeup hid the natural beauty that God in His Glory has given women. I did not even wear it on my wedding day! I have met so many Christian women who claim to be meek and quiet-spirited, yet wear makeup, which covers God’s Glory and calls attention to one’s own appearance and vanity. There is a reason why men prefer natural ladies! Of course maintaining one’s appearance for your husband is important, but it should only be through natural means, and makeup is unnatural and full of chemicals. Lori, what is your opinion on makeup? Is there ever a time where wearing makeup is excusable? I’d love to hear from you!
I see no problems with wearing make up, Christina. We must be careful about making up rules that are not found in Scripture. Yes, our true beauty should come from within but wearing a bit of makeup is fine, especially if one’s husband prefers it!
Very good advice!
Good stuff! For many years, my makeup was all department store brands and I would spend hundreds each year on makeup. Now, as I have learned to be frugal to honor my husband, I have found good replacement for all the basic items in drug stores. Yes, they do have chemicals, but there are not really any brands with NO chemicals, and I certainly don’t wear makeup everyday.
For myself personally, I feel makeup makes my face looks brighter and more “awake” which is important to me when interacting with people. Since I live in the tropics, having a light suntan year-round means I use way less makeup, so that has saved me tons of money and time on making myself up.
Hi Lori,
I have the same question. I’ve read verses which do seem to imply that wearing makeup is a worldly thing to do, as the act is almost always in reference to an unholy, vain woman.
Jeremiah 4:30 – And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.
2 Kings 9:30 – And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window.
1 Peter 3:3-4 – Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;
but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.
I am still not sure where exactly I stand on the topic, but it seems pretty clear in the bible that outward beauty shouldn’t be of any concern whatsoever to a woman of God, as her spirit is where her true beauty lies. I understand if your husband wants you to wear it to please him, as men are visual, but for what reason would you wear it outside of the home? I would love your input on the verses I shared, as I am looking to understand without watering it down to make excuses for vanity.
Thanks!
Thank you for your great and encouraging teaching! This is helpful, healing advice to all of us mired in (often understandable) anxiety, fear, and grief. This post is one of your best and it spoke right to me.
Here’s what Lindsay Harold answered when I asked the women in the chat room about this:
“I am still not sure where exactly I stand on the topic, but it seems pretty clear in the bible that outward beauty shouldn’t be of any concern whatsoever to a woman of God, as her spirit is where her true beauty lies.”
We should affirm that inner beauty is far more valuable than outward beauty. However, I don’t think the Bible teaches that outward beauty is of no concern. Rather, it teaches us that women are not to focus on outward beauty instead of or more than inward beauty. Note what this assumes though. It assumes women are naturally concerned with their outward beauty.
God has made women to appreciate and cultivate beauty. It is part of how we take dominion in creation to make things more beautiful. That is not a bad thing in itself. It’s just that we should not let this tendency become unbalanced and take up too much of our time, money, or attention.
There are certainly verses in the Bible that warn us against undue focus on outward beauty, and especially against sensual beauty designed to tempt a man who is not our husband. However, the Bible also points out a woman’s beauty in multiple places and it does so in a positive light. It tells us, for example, that Sarah was a very beautiful woman, that Jacob desired to marry Rachel because of her beauty, and many others. It also tells us plainly that these women wore ornaments and fixed their hair and so on. So I don’t see any across the board Biblical prohibition against makeup, jewelry, beautiful clothes, lovely hairstyles, or any of that. Instead, we are only warned against elevating outward beauty over inward beauty.
Unfortunately I am struggling with this as well. I am a lover of makeup and I use it almost daily to look “presentable,” but there really doesn’t seem to be any “good” reason to wear makeup. I used to think that wearing makeup was a form of self-expression (like the feminists pretend it is) or that it was simply a reality of living in this world, but regardless makeup does take some focus away from our true inner beauty and seems to be a waste of time and money no matter how small. Despite this, I still am having a hard time quitting makeup!
Oops! It seems that I replied to the wrong section 🙁 I also wanted to say to Christina that I am very impressed with her resolve not to wear makeup even on her wedding day!