“It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again…” (Luke 15:32)
There is a segment of the people that are threatened by good news. They are jealous of others’ blessings. You get a raise in pay, they get a raise in blood pressure. If you’re merry they’re contrary. Scrooge was like that in the Dickens classic.The elder brother was like that when his little brother returned from the pig pen. When he heard about the ring, the robe, the roast and the rejoicing, “he was angry, and would not go in…” (vs 28) He gave the news-bearer a piece of his mind, then his father. Afterwards, his head was a little emptier! Dad tried to reason with him, that it was fitting to make merry because “thy brother was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is found”. Forget reasoning, It has been said "hurting people hurt people". His feelings were hurt. He didn’t want a party, he wanted pity party. I’m not offering him any, not from this Pastor.
AreWhy “merry”? Christmas time is upon us! We have cause to be merry, not contrary. Solomon made several positive statements – “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance…” (Proverbs 15:13) “…he that is of a merry heart has a continual feast” (15:15) So keep flying your flags of discontent and go hungry. “A merry heart does good like a medicine…” (17:22) James asked, “Is any merry? Let him sing psalms” (James 5:13). you merry? Vance Havner said, “Pity the Christian that claims to be living in the land of Canaan, with figs and pomegranates, when all he has to show for it are crab apples!” Merry or contrary? The decision is yours, like the old Sixties song shares – “It’s my party I can…laugh if I want to!” (Yea, I changed the wording.) Elder brother thought the prodigal needed to grovel a little. He recommended probation; let the little waster prove himself for a few months. Instead the father was all hugs and kisses when he met him. I know a few stiff shirts like that. To them affection never makes sense and you'll never make merry if you remain contrary.While the younger was turning up the praise, the elder was turning up his nose. You can still find hard heads like that and contrary attitudes in churches today.Their life stinks and they need to find a pew.
Merry is very. It is an attitude with altitude. True, it can be misused. Two signs of Noah’s day, they were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…” (Matthew 24:38) That’s marrying and merrymaking. The rich fool said to his inner man, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry” and that moral looseness cost him his soul (Luke 12:19,20). But just because some carry merry or marry too far doesn’t infer that God places a premium on the person that looks like he was baptized in pickle juice. Happy people glorify God much sooner than do sorry sour sickly sad-sacks. (Now say that 100 times!) Someone said a grouch spreads cheer wherever he doesn’t go. I don’t want the single adjective that best describes me to be contrary. Hugh Downs said, “A happy person is not a person with a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes”. The merry-heart goes farther in business, relationships, church, home and even living with one’s own self. I truly do wish you a merry Christmas…the kind that makes you roll on the floor doing a belly laugh. It’s all right, the bible said it is good for the cardio-vascular......
Nuff Said!
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