It's Okay to Laugh

Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; 
And shout for joy all you upright in heart!

Many serious things are going on in this world, and we need to be aware of them and prepared for them. But at the same time we need to learn to relax and take things as they come without getting all nervous and upset about them. We need to learn how to enjoy the good life God has provided for us through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ (SEE JOHN 10:10). In spite of all the troubling things going on around us in the world, our daily confession should be, "This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it." 

Something we Christians need to do more of is laugh. We tend to be so heavy about everything - our sin, expecting perfection from ourselves, our growth in God, our prayer life, the gifts of the Spirit, and memorizing Bible verses. We carry around such heavy burdens. If we would just laugh a little more - be of good cheer, "cheer up" - we would find that a little bit of laughter makes that load much lighter. 

In the world we live in, there isn't a great deal to laugh about so we will
need to do it on purpose. It is easy to find plenty to worry about. To be happy, we need to work on it a little. We need to laugh and have a good time.

Divine Alzheimer's

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. Isiaiah 43:25 NIV

Is it a sin to walk on your roof? Not if you're careful. Then is it a sin to look down from your roof? Not really. But what if your neighbour's wife is in her backyard taking a bath?

Therein lies the tragic downfall of King David, who got far too close and fell off the edge, not of his roof but of his soul. There's nothing wrong with a springtime stroll on top of your palace. After all, you are king. But when all that power goes to your head instead of your humility, and you insist on having your neighbour's wife, impregnating her, deceiving her guileless husband, having him killed and covering up the whole sordid affair from heaven and earth-you'll end up breaking all 10 of the commandments in a matter of hours! Guilty as sin.

It is to the king's credit, in this tale of such terrible moral deficits, that when the prophet Nathan blindsided him with a terrible self-incriminating parable and David realized the jig was up and that God knew all, he collapsed in remorseful tears before the prophet and God.

"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions....Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight - that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge" (Ps. 51:1-4).

And how does God respond to the prayer of the penitent? Decades later God rebuked another king with these startling words: "You have not been as My servant David, Who kept My commandment and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes" (1 Kings 14:8). Wait a minute, God - time out! Do you have Alzheimer's? What do You mean that David kept Your commandments, followed You with all his heart, and did only what was right? You must have the wrong David!

Ah, it is the truth of the everlasting gospel. "If you give yourself to [Christ], and accept Him as your Savior, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned" (Steps to Christ, p.62). Good news for the chosen who fall, as did David, but who find, as did David, the God who remembers their sins no more.


The Chosen by Dwight Nelson

Animal Encounters - Fish

Lesson 8 - Words of Wisdom (1st Qtr 2015)

Search your own heart

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 2 Corinthians 13:5, R.S.V. – {Mar 49.1}
Nothing is more treacherous than the deceitfulness of sin. It is the God of this world that deludes, and blinds, and leads to destruction. Satan does not enter with his array of temptations at once. He disguises these temptations with a semblance of good.... Beguiled souls take one step, then are prepared for the next.... Oh, how Satan watches to see his bait taken so readily, and to see souls walking in the very path he has prepared! ... – {Mar 49.2}
There is a necessity for close self-examination, and to closely investigate in the light of God’s word, Am I sound, or am I rotten, at heart? Am I renewed in Christ, or am I still carnal at heart, with an outside, new dress put on? Rein yourself up to the tribunal of God, and see as in the light of God if there is any secret sin, any iniquity, any idol you have not sacrificed. Pray ... as you have never prayed before, that you may not be deluded by Satan’s devices; that you may not be given up to a heedless, careless, and vain spirit.... – {Mar 49.3}
One of the sins that constitute one of the signs of the last days, is that professed Christians are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Deal truly with your own souls. Search carefully. How few, after a faithful examination, can look up to Heaven and say, “... I am not a lover of pleasure more than a lover of God.” How few can say, “I am dead to the world, ... and when He who is my life shall appear, then shall I also appear with Him in glory.” – {Mar 49.4}
The love and grace of God! Oh precious grace! more valuable than fine gold. It elevates and ennobles the spirit beyond all other principles. It sets the heart and affections upon Heaven. While those around us may be engaged in worldly vanity, pleasure-seeking, and folly, the conversation is in heaven, whence we look for the Saviour; the soul is reaching out after God for pardon and peace, for righteousness and true holiness. Converse with God and contemplation of things above transform the soul into the likeness of Christ. – {Mar 49.5}

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