Wednesday, January 10, 2018

The Joy behind Laughter

UV 2881/10000 The Joy behind Laughter
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.
Genesis 21 v 6
The Lord is not a joy killer but a joy giver. He has given us innumberable promises in the word so that our joy shall be full when we appropriate these promises. When our soul rejoices, our bodies laugh. Of course, there are several kinds of laughter. There is the laughter of disbelief for example when Sarah heard the promise that she would bear a son in her old age. There is the laughter of derision or mockery. There is also the laughter of joy, of having received that which we were promised and that which we believed. The joy causes laughter and the laugher causes joy. This is the laughter that is referred to in this uni-verse by Sarah. She who was barren was made to bear a child whom she named Isaac or “He made me laugh.” As the child grew, everything he did or said reminded Sarah to forget her former sorrow as well as present hardship and to laugh with joy in her inner soul.
Sorrows jerk tears from our eyes and deep within our souls while joy tickles us into frequent smile s and laughter. Jesus came to turn our tears into laughter. He Himself is called the Man of Sorrow and scripture never recorded anything to show that Jesus laughed though it is mentioned that Jesus wept. Doubtless, He must have smiled at children, smiled at the responses of the faithful for He was a born natural as well as a born supernatural. Today, Jesus wants us to celeberate our every victory with laughter and joy. He desires that we laugh again and again and again for as St Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.” When Jesus reaches out from His present and eternal throne in heaven and touches our cheeks to wipe away a tear, the sorrow that caused it is removed, healed, forgotten. We can laugh at any trouble, any threat, any fear, any danger, any loss, any circumstance. Jesus does not want us to be downcast or depressed except when we experience godly sorrow over our own personal sins even after coming into His saving knowledge. The sorrow of the faithful causes Jesus to manifest Himself as He did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who were saddened by the happenings in Jerusalem surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus.
Like Sarah we need to rejoice again and again over all the answers to prayers we have received, all the blessings the Lord has sent our way even without our asking or imagining. Joy not sorrow should be the default mode of the average believer and follower of Jesus so that all who hear us, see us, converse with us would catch the holy and wholesome infection of the joie de vivre or the joy of living, the joy of being forgiven, the joy of forgiving, the joy of giving, the joy of receiving, the joy of serving and of being served, the joy of overcoming struggles and emerging victorious, the joy of healing and being healed, the joy of worship and fellowship. It is our default mode of being and feeling as only when we are joyful can we truly and fully worship, praise and thank the Lord without a divided heart. Like Isaac was the cause of laughter for his mother Sarah, we are to be someone else’s Isaac, causing them to laugh, not sorrow.
Prateep V Philip

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