Posted on 12/27/2014 8:45:53 AM PST by Idaho_Cowboy
Something is missing in the family of Christ.
It isn’t that we aren’t doing things right, that we aren’t trying, that we don’t care. It isn’t that we have ignored God’s commandments or been unfaithful to Christ; it isn’t that we have become apostate. ... God’s people—with, of course, some significant and noteworthy exceptions—are doing what they ought to do.
But something is still missing. Nobody talks about it, but we all know it. Most of us have an “emperor-has-no-clothes” agreement with one another not to have seminars on the subject or to bring it up in committee meetings. But, nevertheless, we know. And when we aren’t busy doing the right things for God, the void haunts us. ...
The older I get the more I realize that Jesus really did come to “set the prisoners free.” The more I think about and walk in that freedom, the more I have discovered the exquisite joy in following him. I’m just a beggar telling other beggars where I found bread…and this beggar is still sometimes hungry; but he at least knows where the bread is.
Of late I have found something most of us, myself included, have missed: the laughter that comes from the freedom Christ gives us…laughter for those whom the good news has not been very good news for a long time.
When Jesus came something new happened. In fact, it was so incredibly new people almost missed it; they didn’t expect it.
God laughed—not with the laughter of cynicism, judgment, derision, or sarcasm—but with the free, infectious, joyful laughter of the sovereign Ruler of the universe.
We didn’t expect God to laugh that way. We expected him to be angry because we knew he had every reason to be angry.
(Excerpt) Read more at keylife.org ...
Thank God that he came and brought salvation and joyous laughter to this dark and fallen world.
Joy To The World!
I really like Steve Brown. So does my Pastor.
Reading this confirmed something that I experienced on Christmas Eve. Our church had a service of lessons and carols, and after the Isaiah reading about the lion and the lamb etc., the congregation sang "The Friendly Beasts." As I was accompanying on the organ, the women were singing the verse about the dove; for a moment, I had a fleeting vision of all the animals in the cave bringing their "presents," and I felt laughter, but it wasn't my laughter, it was the Holy Spirit inside of me laughing as He again enjoyed the experience. I didn't want to keep it down, I wanted to stop and let it take over, but the music had to go on and I had to play, so a few seconds later the song was over and it went away. It was the best present I received this season.
Does God laugh? I would seem that he created humor since he created everything, but I am unfamiliar with any Bible passage that refers to Jesus smiling or laughing.
I have been taught that Jesus is like us on all ways except for sin. I’d like to believe he would smile occasionally and sometimes laugh (wouldn’t it be something to hear God laugh!). Perhaps the lack of reference to God’s humor has more to do with the people who recorded events after the fact. Perhaps they felt it would diminish the dignity of God and detract from his essential message.
I can understand that, but part of me still wishes that someone experienced and shared the experience of hearing God laugh.
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God “laughs in DERISION” at the nations of the world ... that’s the kind of laughter that the Bible presents ... from God. There are other instances of God laughing at the ones who reject him!
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ “
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
It’s not really the right context, but God does laugh according to Psalm 2.
The Bible shares the experience of God’s laughter at the nations, laughing in derision at them ... in Psalm 2!
Also, there is the laughter of the prophet of God against the prophets of Baal, when they were challenged to produce their (false) god!
Then, the “converse” of that, there is an example in the Bible of those who laughed against a prophet of God, and he called a bear out of the woods to attack them! So, laughter “against God” is not to be done.
Guess I wasn’t fast enough on the draw there. Don’t forget God also weeps over the coming judgment as Jesus did for Jerusalem.
I can’t help but think that there are a great many times Jesus must have been chuckling when talking to the disciples.
If there is a time for us to laugh and a time to mourn and we are made in God’s image I suppose the same it true of him.
Remember ... and one more thing to add to my previous comment ... Jesus is part of the Triune Godhead, and everything that applies to any other description of God and his attributes, applies to Jesus, as exactly the same, as they are ONE (i.e., God is ONE).
Remember as a parent, when your child finally got it, (whatever it was you were trying to teach them, or they learned something on their own? Seeing their BINGO moment put so much delight and laughter in a parents soul.
Often time I praise HIM and ask "How did you do this (creation of all things that are)?" I can just imagine HIM with HIS fingers in HIS robe, saying "Yeah I did, didn't I, I'm the great I AM, glad you got it."
5.56mm
Don't know if He laughs or not, but would assume He has the capacity. He did make us in His image and He did give us my=uch to be joyous about - the real point of the article. We too often get hung up in the physical world and forget the Joy H gave us and hopes us to express.
He also has a sense of humor - He answers prayers with, "Yes" "No" or "If You Insist"....
I have felt Jesus laugh in prayer a few times. He has a sharp sense of humor and joy. I just Love Him so much.
“...but I am unfamiliar with any Bible passage that refers to Jesus smiling or laughing.”
Take it with a grain of salt, but for some reason I see a slight smile on Jesus’ face when He says to Thomas—who finally believes when he puts his fingers in the resurrected Jesus’ wounds and worships him—“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
From a personal experience I believe God has a sense of humor. I had been a single mom for 20 years after a divorce. I just knew I was going to remarry again in about 6 months time and to someone I had met briefly a few months before, although I had no idea who it would be. I called a practitioner to pray with me about this. Sure enough it all happened as I just told. I was writing a note of thank you and payment to the practitioner and laughed out loud, the street name in the practitioners address was the same as my new married name. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor.
**but I am unfamiliar with any Bible passage that refers to Jesus smiling or laughing.**
From John 1:45-48; Philip finds Nathanael, and tells him of Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael says, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Fast forward: Nathanael shows up and Jesus says of him, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!”.
I’ll would be VERY surprised if the Christ wasn’t smiling when he said that to Nathanael.
Later we find Jesus nicknaming James and John, “the sons of thunder”. I don’t think the Lord was implying some reference to real thunder. I believe that possibly the father of James and John was a loud person, maybe with a deep resonating voice.
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