Good Morning Friends,
You have heard more than a few lightbulb jokes over the years. And it came to me this morning that it takes three Christians to screw in a lightbulb. One to become the lightbulb, one to believe it is already screwed in and a third to become the light. Well at least that is how it kind of happened with Jesus. A few years ago while praying with friends we contemplated a laughing Jesus and the laughs we have had in life. And though there is nowhere in scripture that specifically says that Jesus laughed there are times when God laughed and so it is not such a difficult extension. The best jokes are about life. And yes Jews make pretty good comedians. So tell someone a joke and you have the beginning of a relationship. Here we look at the incongruities of life and laugh. To be sure we each have our own interpretations and perceptions of life. And some think this time of being in the flesh is an accident and others a sacred trust from God. I would like to think life is more than what we do while we are waiting to die. Some cosmic joke. However laughter makes us realize we are alive and also that life is way too short. Maybe that is why I like shaggy dog stories over short jokes. So, on a more serious note related to our belief in an everlasting life I ask, What Is Our Life And Why Do We Exist?
Scripture: Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
James 4:14 (NRSV)
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
Job 7:6 (NRSV)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
John 10:10 (NRSV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NRSV)
Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back, you mortals. “For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers. For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days pass away under your wrath; our years come to an end like a sigh. The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart. Turn, O Lord! How long? Have compassion on your servants! Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!
Psalm 90 (NRSV)
A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 (NRSV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (NRSV)
The wicked plot against the righteous, and gnash their teeth at them; but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that their day is coming.
Psalm 37:12-13 (NRSV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:16-18 (NIV)
Message: God’s Word tells us that our lives are like a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes. Compared to eternity this life is short, and the longer we live the shorter it seems. Life is short and life is uncertain. We learn about death from an early age in nursery rhymes. And even children’s prayers have this dark side: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” But the whys and wherefores of today’s question needs a response beyond children’s rhymes and even a business or estate plan or even a good joke. Part of the problem is how we view time and the march of days and weeks and months and years. We see it as a wheel of time with the cycle of life going round and round but what the Bible is suggesting is something much deeper. There is more to find than we have time on the journey from existence to essence. The deeper message about our life is that we exist because God exists. And we have hope in an everlasting life because God is everlasting. The borders of our mind are not sufficient to grasp the resurrection of the body…we think about awakening of our soul from sleep, either selective or universal, or like the analogy in the plant world with its incessant rhythm of decay and revival and picture a refloresence. But know this, the mist of our life is insubstantial without God. Without God we are transient. Thinking of life in these terms changes everything. Some think that he who dies with the most toys wins but that just does not cut it. Apart from God’s providence friends the future is grim. Only with God do we have hope. That is why faith is so important. We just do not know about tomorrow. And some things we cannot avoid and death is one of them. But there is mercy and yes there is laughter. The good news friends is that we are precious in God’s sight and we are made in God’s image. So rejoice. God will come and find us. He will reach down for us, offering us a whole new future with joy. That is why Jesus came and will come again. So live for good and live for God and your life will have power. Friends, only what is done for Jesus will last and maybe that includes having a good laugh.
And So, you may think God knows everything but there are four things God does not know. God does not know a sin that He does not hate. God does not know a sinner that He does not love. God does not know a better plan of salvation than the one that is offered. And God does not know a better time for unbelievers to accept His plan of salvation than at this very moment. You see, God hates all sin because sin is what separates us from Him. The Gospel is not just for ” bad people,” it is for everyone. My sin cannot be measured by what you have done compared to me because we are not the standard, God is and He is perfect. And God’s love is perfect too because it offers the most basic of all human needs to everyone that was ever born in the world who would accept the sacrifice that was made. And the reason this plan is so perfect is that all you need to do is to accept it by faith. And everyone has the same access. Anyone can believe in the atoning work of Christ and put their faith in Him. No one has a legitimate excuse not to believe because it is too good not to believe. It is never too early but at any moment it could be too late. Agree that you’re a sinner. Admit you need the Lord and believe that He died for your sins and then rose again. Accept that His death is a gift from God that you can’t earn or put a price on. Realize that grace is truly a gift for the guilty. Friends, each of us were made to be loved by God and to bring Him pleasure. Now God wants us to learn to love Him back and that is the first purpose of life, to get to know and love Him back. Friends, we exist to be in relationship with God now and forever.
Pray we love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. Pray we take advantage of this window of opportunity we call life. Pray we never leave the Lord out of our plans but always accept His. Pray we be careful to be in the Lord’s will. Pray we do God’s will with the time we have been given. Pray we be clear, and responsive in accordance with God’s plan. Pray God’s word speaks to us. Pray we are not some sort of inglorious cosmic bleep. Pray we not boast of quests independent of God. Pray we find happiness, self-expression and a personal relationship in Christ. Pray we not disregard God’s precious wealth. Pray we face up to what we do not know. Pray we realize that life is a gift from God. Pray we have a life that is abundant. Pray that there will be a tomorrow and it will be absolutely wonderful. Pray in the great mystery… the profound and troubling mystery of our birth, life, death and resurrection. Pray that we become new creatures in Christ. Pray we become one as Jesus prayed. Pray that even now that our corruption be turned to incorruption, our mortality to immortality, our dishonor to glory. Pray that God will take our weakness and turn it into power, take our natural state and turn it into spiritual victory. Pray we not take ourselves too seriously. Pray we learn to laugh. Pray we believe in life everlasting.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 