Dear Daily Message Readers,
READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-9
Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NIV) "[There is a time] to weep and a time to laugh..."
Jeanne Calment, believed to be the world's oldest person, died in 1997 at age 122. According to her birth certificate, Calment was born on February 21, 1875, about 10 years after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1993 as the oldest living person whose birth date could be authenticated by reliable records. Her secret? Among others things, Calment credited her longevity to her sense of humor. "I will die laughing," she predicted (CNN.com).
While laughter can't guarantee longevity, the advice by Calment opens a biblical principle often overlooked. Perhaps the reason most people ignore the essence of laughter is because we live such structured, routine lives that something out of the ordinary is not an acceptable practice. But the psalmist, singing for joy because the temple was restored, wrote, "Our mouths were filled with laughter" (Psalm 126:2). Instead of remaining stoic, the author found in appropriate to laugh in the presence of the Lord's goodness to his country.
I believe Christians have a greater capacity to enjoy healthy laughter than others. After all, we live with the promise of eternal life and with the knowledge that God can use even our setbacks to move us forward the work of His kingdom. Yet we live for Christ as if we were drinking from a dull, dried out well. If we have the idea that our faith in Christ should produce a super-serious, gloomy, burdened life, we are sadly mistaken.
Proverbs 15:13 "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."
Let's allow the joy of the Lord to spring within us to create an outlook of optimism and an attitude of joy that is sure to produce laughter. When laughter finds its root in the joy of the Lord, it makes life for us and those around us a whole lot more relaxed and pleasurable.
Faith Lesson: Nehemiah 8:10 "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
In Christ,
Darin Smith
READ: Ecclesiastes 3:1-9
Ecclesiastes 3:4 (NIV) "[There is a time] to weep and a time to laugh..."
Jeanne Calment, believed to be the world's oldest person, died in 1997 at age 122. According to her birth certificate, Calment was born on February 21, 1875, about 10 years after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. She entered the Guinness Book of Records in 1993 as the oldest living person whose birth date could be authenticated by reliable records. Her secret? Among others things, Calment credited her longevity to her sense of humor. "I will die laughing," she predicted (CNN.com).
While laughter can't guarantee longevity, the advice by Calment opens a biblical principle often overlooked. Perhaps the reason most people ignore the essence of laughter is because we live such structured, routine lives that something out of the ordinary is not an acceptable practice. But the psalmist, singing for joy because the temple was restored, wrote, "Our mouths were filled with laughter" (Psalm 126:2). Instead of remaining stoic, the author found in appropriate to laugh in the presence of the Lord's goodness to his country.
I believe Christians have a greater capacity to enjoy healthy laughter than others. After all, we live with the promise of eternal life and with the knowledge that God can use even our setbacks to move us forward the work of His kingdom. Yet we live for Christ as if we were drinking from a dull, dried out well. If we have the idea that our faith in Christ should produce a super-serious, gloomy, burdened life, we are sadly mistaken.
Proverbs 15:13 "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit."
Let's allow the joy of the Lord to spring within us to create an outlook of optimism and an attitude of joy that is sure to produce laughter. When laughter finds its root in the joy of the Lord, it makes life for us and those around us a whole lot more relaxed and pleasurable.
Faith Lesson: Nehemiah 8:10 "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
In Christ,
Darin Smith
