When a paralyzed man was brought to Jesus, the first thing the Savior said to him, according to Matthew, was, “Son, be of good cheer” (Matthew 9:2).
He gave the same counsel to his apostles when they were frightened to see Him walking on water. (See Matthew 14:27, Mark 6:50.)
And at the end of His life, just before entering the garden of Gethsemane, He again advised His apostles, “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
As the prophet Nephi pleaded with God on behalf of his people, who had been threatened with death if the sign of the Savior’s birth did not appear that night, the Lord answered him with words of comfort and assurance:
Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.
3 Nephi 1:13
It’s easy to become anxious. It’s hard to remain calm, and even harder to be cheerful in the face of tribulation and uncertainty. But that calm and that cheerfulness demonstrates our trust in a perfect and loving Savior.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:
I think some of us…must still have in us that clichéd remnant of Puritan heritage that says it is somehow wrong to be comforted or helped, that we are supposed to be miserable about something all of the time. I submit that to “be of good cheer” (John 16:33) in the quest for “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) may be the commandment that is, even in the hearts of otherwise faithful Latter-day Saints, almost universally disobeyed; and yet surely nothing could be more grievous to the Lord’s merciful heart.
“Pursuing the Fulness of Christ,” Liahona, 28 March, 2021
Today, I will be cheerful. I will let my faith overcome my worries, and I will face the day and the future with courage and hope, trusting that God will help me overcome every challenge and find joy in every day.
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