Joyful news leads to joyful people

Some time ago, I went through a pretty bad spot emotionally. I was miserable almost all the time (there were many reasons for this). This wasn’t so much a depression thing as much as a frustration one, though. Lots of stress and concern about things both in and out of my control were taking their toll. The day it clicked for me was when we sat at the table, and my daughter, Abigail, commented that I don’t smile.

Now, strictly speaking, this wasn’t true. But she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen me smile. Her default understanding was “daddy = grumpy.”

(Isn’t it interesting how God so often uses our children to point out what we’ve been ignoring?)

The spirit we should want to cultivate

I was like the monks Spurgeon spoke of in Lectures to My Students, “who salute each other in sepulchral tones, and convey the pleasant information, ‘Brother we must die’; to which lively salutation each lively brother of the order replies, ‘Yes, brother we must die'” (197).

This, again, wasn’t an unfamiliar sort of disposition for me. I spent most of my teen years being proto-emo, minus the swoopy hair (except for that unfortunate year…). My favorite bands were all rather pretentious, dark, and angsty. I was not a cheerful person.

I was reminded of this when listening to the audio edition of Lectures to My Students. There, Spurgeon commends ministers to be cheerful people. Not an empty sort of “levity and frothiness, but a genial, happy spirit. There are more flies caught with honey than with vinegar, and there will be more souls led to heaven by a man who wears heaven on his face than by one who bears Tartarus in his looks” (198).

Good news leads to joyful people

Spurgeon is right in commending us to cultivate a happy disposition. Not some false air, but a genuinely joyful spirit.¹ No one wants to be around the person who is constantly looking for the grey cloud in the silver lining (or is pointing out to you why gluten is terrible and going to give you cancer while also causing climate change).² No one really likes being around the person who constantly turns your smiles into frowns.

But good news does not beget grumpiness, and good news people should not be known for grumpiness. While they might have seasons where they experience it, they should not be characterized by it. People who have been saved by Jesus and commissioned by him to tell that good news should pursue cheerfulness or, if you prefer, joy. Because joyful news leads to joyful people. And joyful people in a bad news world are hard to come by.

1. Which I know is something extremely difficult for those of us who struggle with depression, so I really hope this post doesn’t appear cold or uncaring. ↩︎
2. This was probably the most offensive statement I wrote in 2015. ↩︎