SMILES AND LAUGHTER

“And Sarah said, “God has made me LAUGH, so that all who hear will LAUGH with me”” – Genesis 21:6

It is the delight of our Loving Father to decorate our lives with SMILES and LAUGHTER. God desires that our faces shine with smiles and our mouths overflow with LAUGHTER: “Then our mouth was filled with LAUGHTER” (Psa.126:2). A SMILE is the light in the window of your face that tells people that your heart is at home! And, Laughter is the Sound of Joy! Smiles and laughter should rightly be the exuberant expressions of a joy-full heart. God knows what laughter is; it is not strange to Him. He recognised when Sarah laughed, although a laughter of unbelief (Gen.18:13-15). She thereafter accepted Laughter as a gift from God, and one He desires to spread to others: “God has made me laugh, so that all who hear will laugh with me” (Gen.21:6). He who visited Sarah and did for her what He had spoken, will visit us with the Oil of Gladness and Joy, and the Gift of Laughter, in Jesus name.

God is obviously not against hearty laughter. Job 5:22 says, “You shall laugh at destruction and famine…” (Job.5:22a). Laughter is mentioned with reference to God Himself: “He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; the LORD shall hold them in derision” (Psa.2:4). But, one may ask: “Did Jesus laugh?” Could He who was described as “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” have ever known moments of laughter (Isa.53:3)? Truly, nowhere in Scripture do we have a specific record of Christ laughing. But His life could not have been unremittingly joyless and stressful. Indeed, the testimony of the word confirms that He was anointed with “the oil of gladness” above His companions (Heb.1:9). It is therefore more than reasonable to assume that the Fountain of Joy and Epitome of Gladness Himself, after taking our pains and sorrows, yet untarnished by sin, would have exuded the best of laughter.

Jesus was the very embodiment of love, and was filled with the Holy Spirit, with Joy being a dimension of the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal.5:22). He interacted with His disciples, not as subordinates, but as ‘friends’ (Jh.15:15). And, he desires above all else to share His Joy with them (Jh.17:13). It’s hard to imagine how such a Joy could be empty of laughter! Is there really true friendship without Joy shared in laughter together? The Gospel writers did not record every of the Lord’s acts or emotions: “And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book” (Jh.20:30). That Jesus is never said to have smiled or laughed, could be because they knew His laughing would be so obvious a reality they needn’t bother mentioning it. Or perhaps their eyes were so set on Calvary that they dared not make the gospel vignettes seem trite.

A joyless life would have been a sinful life. If Jesus’ Joy was not exuberant, would He not have been guilty of the anxiety He forbade in others (Mt.6:25)? Would He not have fallen short of Paul’s precept to ‘rejoice always’ (Phil.4:4). Could He have been filled with the Spirit and yet not manifest the Spirit’s Joy (Gal.5:22)? There can be little doubt that, apart from the intense moments such as at Gethsemane and on Calvary, Jesus was bustling, contented, and cheerful. He served the Father, not as a slave but as a son.

There is a place for laughter in life: “a time to weep and a time to laugh” (Eccl.3:4a). Laughter is a most significant Sound of Jo while a smile is the ‘light’ of a joyful soul – Joy made visible and audible. Both are unique and authentic gifts from God, not counterfeit. From Him comes the sincere smile, rather than the cosmetic, superficial, plastic smile; and hearty laughter, rather than artificial, hollow laughter. Joy makes the difference! Do you strain to smile or struggle to laugh? God wants you to smile genuinely and laugh without pretence. He wants you to express healthy, holy laughter, and the smile in your face to reflect the joy in your heart.