{"id":1644,"date":"2011-12-01T05:55:32","date_gmt":"2011-12-01T10:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/godonomics\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2011-12-01T07:50:37","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T12:50:37","slug":"lasting-laughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/godonomics\/2011\/12\/lasting-laughter.html","title":{"rendered":"God Laughs Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are all looking for a lasting joy. We had gifts as kids, \u201cWeiny Whistles, Slinkies, etc.\u201d that we knew that when we got \u201cit\u201d, we\u2019d be happy forever. We\u2019d laugh and rejoice forever once we got that. \u00a0We all long for a laughter that lasts. <\/em><\/p>\n

There is nothing like a belly laugh. An out of control belly laugh and time of joy.\u00a0 It’s always amazing to see the innocent joy and laughter from kids.<\/p>\n

Belize, our teenagers go down and sense a contentment and joy from orphans who are trusting in God to meet their needs. \u00a0We have groups of women heading to Monterey and Cancun, Mexico to celebrate Christmas with children. And each year the women return with stories of such joy that have come from watching the children laugh and play.<\/p>\n

Around Christmas, you hear the innocent joy of kids laughing together while playing with the perfect gift. I remember buying my daughter one of those \u201cBarbie Jeeps\u201d to drive around in for her birthday, but the whole group of girls were laughing and playing hysterically with an old golf ball on our front porch. \u00a0Present wrappings were everywhere from expensive gifts, and they were laughing and enjoying an old golf ball.<\/p>\n

How can we get back to the contentment, innocence, joy, and laughter of a child? The older you get, are you more aware of pain, betrayal, cruelty, and the darkness of this world? \u00a0Is it even possible to have a laughter that lasts?<\/p>\n

There is an old phrase, \u201cHe who laughs last, laughs best.\u201d Each of us can experience a joy and laughter that lasts. A lasting laughter comes when we realize \u00a01) God Laughs. 2) God Laughs Best. \u00a03) God Laughs Last <\/strong><\/p>\n

I. God Laughs \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Psalms 4:2a it says, The One enthroned in heaven laughs;<\/em> … this passage speaks of the \u201cOne\u201d sent my God who will be enthroned to rule the world. \u00a0And as he sits on the throne, he laughs. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This is a picture the Bible gives of the end of time. And the last thing we see is a God who rules. A God who reigns. A God who laughs. \u00a0\u00a0And He is the One who laughs last, and laughs best. God is pictured throughout the Bible as a God of joy and laughter who invites others to enter into his joy. \u00a0When you picture God, do you see a ticked off God or a laughing God? \u00a0\u00a0Is Christmas about God sharing His joy and laughter with mankind? \u00a0When God announces to Mary that His message is coming to earth, it\u2019s described as a message of joy.<\/p>\n

Luke 2:10 10<\/strong>And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,<\/span> which shall be to all people.<\/em><\/p>\n

Christmas is about Joy to the World! \u00a0The Bible teaches us that God is a God of laughter and Joy. He made mankind to share His joy. \u00a0When mankind wandered off into pain and difficulty, God went after them.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want them to miss out on the joy and Laughter. \u00a0\u00a0God laughs.<\/p>\n

God not only laughs… He laughs best.<\/p>\n

II. God Laughs Best<\/strong><\/p>\n

4<\/strong> The One enthroned in heaven laughs;<\/em><\/p>\n

God is laughing at something specific. \u00a0As a parent, have you ever watched your children make a mistake from lack of experience that you remember making? \u00a0(PAUSE). \u00a0You smile, don\u2019t you. \u00a0You smile because \u201cyou\u2019ve been there.\u201d \u00a0You know that it\u2019s not going to work. \u00a0\u00a0You\u2019ve been around this block before.<\/p>\n

The Bible says that God made mankind with a hole in his soul that only God can fill. \u00a0God\u2019s joy and laughter is the only thing that can fully satisfy our longings. \u00a0And God laughs when we try to fill that hole with someone that doesn\u2019t work. He smiles and says, \u201cThat\u2019s not going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jim Palmer, author of Divine Nobodies<\/em>, \u00a0tells of ways he tried to fill that hole with things besides God\u2019s joy. \u00a0\u201cI spent many years seeking God. Actually, I was really seeking a life of well-being through God. Among other things, I wanted to get off the roller-coaster ride of all my misplaced dependencies and futile attachments for worth, security and happiness, and be free from the anguish this groping for fulfillment inevitably produced. It was more than just wanting these nice blissful experiences tossed into my life here and there to balance out the difficulties and disappointments of human existence. I wanted these realities to be infused into my very being\u2014inhaling, exhaling and being love, being peace, being contentment and being freedom. My logic was that I could achieve these things through God, and more specifically by being a \u201cgood Christian.\u201d Didn\u2019t work. Go out and apply every formula for living a happy life: Become wealthy, accomplish great success, be devoutly religious, achieve the perfect body, save the rain forests, find Mr. or Mrs. Right, climb Mount Everest, purchase a Yamaha R6, double your Facebook friends \u2014 whatever floats your boat. Do it all! Doesn\u2019t work. Won\u2019t satisfy. It will never produce the life you want. The life not worth living is about seeking happiness out there\u2014in people, places and things Even religion places God somewhere out there (technically, up there) to be sought through a system of rules, rituals, precepts, principles and practices. As the e-mailer said, \u201cNothing makes me truly happy.\u201d That\u2019s a truth to wake up to\u2014nothing or no-thing outside yourself (as in stuff, people, circumstances, religion) can make you truly happy. Happiness is the temporary satisfaction of a felt need, and is dependent on all kinds of conditions or circumstances. I chased the carrot for many years through theological knowledge, ministry success, a daily regimen of spiritual disciplines, church commitments and social activism. It\u2019s not that any of these things were wrong, or that they had no value, but what I was seeking to gain through them was still searching for eternal reality on the wrong frequency. A lot of people are trying to squeeze God into their current way of doing life through religion. God wants you to experience another life altogether with the Peace and Forgiveness that comes from Jesus Christ. Jim realized that there are lots of joys you can fill your life with. But only God\u2019s Joy is Best. God laughs. And God Laughs Best. Only his BEST joy can fill our hearts fully. God designed human beings with a hole. A Hole only He can fill. \u00a0And he chuckles at us when we try to fill the hole with toys that we think will fill up the ultimate needs of our heart. But they can\u2019t and won\u2019t. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Because whatever we try to fill it with… NEVER LASTS.<\/p>\n

Two Toys That Don\u2019t Last and Make God Laugh.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

BATTLESHIP:\u00a0 Trying to Outwit God<\/span><\/p>\n

“1<\/strong> Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Before God laughs, a few verses earlier, we see what He is laughing at. Look at those words… Conspire. Plot. \u00a0\u00a0We try to outwit God. Like Jim, we try to find away around God\u2019s ways. God may say, \u201conly I can satisfy the hole in your life…\u201d We think, \u201cThat can\u2019t be true, I\u2019ll find away around that. I\u2019ll fill my life with toys like Status, Money, Power, Influence, Happy Relationships. \u00a0God may have a \u201cplot\u201d for my life. \u00a0But I want to live out the \u201cplot\u201d for my life that I have written.\u201d<\/p>\n

To plot against God is to figure out a way to run your life without him. \u00a0To think we can outsmart God. \u00a0\u00a0For many of us, we grew up BATTLESHIP, we try to outsmart, outwit and figure out what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

I remember playing Battleship with my family growing up in Illinois.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I always thought I could outsmart my father. I used to try to put my Battleships on diagonally…even though they wouldn\u2019t fit in the holes. \u00a0\u00a0My dad would smile and laugh knowing that my attempts to outwit him were relatively obvious. He almost always saw through my scheming, outsmarted me, and laughed at my attempts. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0My buddy Jim and I were playing cards once with my father. We were playing five card draw. \u00a0Jim and I were conspiring together by cheating up a storm. We were passing cards, palming cards, sliding cards back and forth to each other. \u00a0\u00a0We had pulled the wool over my father\u2019s eyes. We had totally tricked my dad? \u00a0\u00a0We went to lay down our cards, and my dad was smirking and chuckling to himself. \u00a0\u00a0I was chuckling to myself too. I had a four of a kind. \u00a0\u00a0I laid it down ready to pull in my winnings. \u00a0Jim laid down a full house. \u00a0\u00a0My dad looked at Jim and I shocked at how good our hands really were. Just as I thought we had out-strategized my dad, I asked him, \u201cWhat he had…\u201d \u00a0He smiled, laughed, and spread out his hand to reveal \u201chalf the deck\u201d was in his hand. He had 4 four of a kinds. \u00a0We all burst out laughing. The whole time we thought we had outsmarted and out-cheated my dad, he had watched us plot, and used that time to pick up half the deck while we were distracting my our plotting. My dad laughs last. And laughed best.<\/p>\n

God is a loving Father who is laughing at our attempts to fill a God-sized hole with a toy. We think our intellect, our savvy, and our belief that \u201cwe can run our lives better than God\u201d will bring lasting laughter to our lives \u00a0God laughs at the sheer silliness of it. He tells us to put away our Conspiring game of battleship. \u00a0\u00a0These toys will never bring lasting laughter and joy. \u00a0His Laughter is Best.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had a couple share with me recently how many toys they have. Nice home. Beautiful cars. \u00a0Lots of money in savings. \u00a0Freedom in business to travel. Money to go out to eat whenever and where ever they want. \u00a0\u00a0They were thinking about \u201cadding\u201d a little church or God to their life, but as they sat in my office, they told me how unsatisfied they were. Despite a million dollar a year salary and all the niceties society told them would help them \u201cfind lasting joy\u201d about what life was about.. They were not filled with joy. \u00a0\u00a0They are beginning to explore what the laughter and joy of God is like. \u00a0\u00a0They aren\u2019t convinced yet that God laughs best… but they are seeing that their toys don\u2019t laugh best.<\/p>\n

The second Toy that makes God laugh is Mr Potato Head: Build Your Own God<\/strong><\/p>\n

The second toy that God laughs at is our attempt to build our own God. \u00a0\u00a0We try to make up our own God. We band together and say, \u201cWe will throw off this primitive God from the Bible and instead find freedom and hope and meaning without Him.\u201d<\/p>\n

2<\/strong> The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, 3<\/strong> \u201cLet us break their chains and throw off their shackles.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Look at the basic belief: We need to break off the chains and shackles that come from following God. \u00a0\u00a0This group thinks that God\u2019s way leads to bondage, and doing whatever they want leads to freedom.<\/p>\n

Post Enlightenment thinking as well as atheists like Richard Dawkins have claimed that Religion is a Controlling opiate. I run into people all the time who say, \u201cI like this about God, but not that. I like this part of the Bible, but not that.\u201d \u00a0They are afraid that the God of the Bible is angry, mean, or will take away their joy and freedom. \u00a0So they construct their own God.<\/p>\n

What are they doing? They are doing what we all have a tendency to do… Build a Mr Potato Head God. \u00a0You put on him what you want, you take off what you want. And the real God, in Heaven laughs. he laughs that you have invented a Mr Potato Head God… And make him your source of spirituality. He laughs because He (THE Real GOD) looks nothing like your Mr Potato Head. He laughs because if your source of strength and hope is something you\u2019ve made… In the Mr Potato Universe, You are the Creator…. Your god is your Creation. Everything is upside down.<\/p>\n

Fredrick Neitschze tells us in his poem The Madman<\/em> that when we killed God and replaced him with our \u201cMr Potato head God\u201d of philosophy, or science, or \u201cspirituality\u201d or self enlightenment, or education… we have unanchored the earth from the sun and will no longer know which way is up or down…
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

God laughs at our attempts to replace him. \u00a0In fact the Bible says that the real problem in the human heart is sin. What is sin? Sin is \u201cputting yourself in the place of God.\u201d \u00a0Or saying it another way, \u201cMaking up your own version of God and living for it.\u201d God laughs at this. \u00a0He laughs when you and I make up our own God and think He (the thing we made) made us….<\/p>\n

Test and see if you are playing with Battleship or My Potato Head.<\/p>\n