Worth Smiling About

02.06.13

Acts 13.52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13, ESV)

These people were happy – they’d heard the Good News and it had set them free – they were happy. Joy is always a bi-product of truth. And yet joy alone is not the answer without the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Lord by His Spirit accompanies joy in the presence of truth.

If we contrast these disciples with the Jews in this narrative we find a different picture: the Jews were sad, they were angry, and they were insulted that this message wasn’t for them exclusively. Their relationship with Jehovah was special to them, exclusive to them, and only for them. They didn’t seem to want to tolerate Greeks being present at their little party. Their reaction shows just how racially prejudiced, narrow, and misinformed they were.

But God’s message of love and friendship is for all mankind. God’s message of salvation is what turns a pagan into person of worth and meaning. God’s message is what re-directs a man from worshiping idols into worshiping the true and Living God. God’s message of love and friendship is a message of freedom. And aren’t most of us bound by something?

Life is full of experiences that capture our minds and perspectives, and hold us in their sway. We believe what we believe because that is the way we see. For many, life on the planet is all they ever want and to them it doesn’t get any better than this. A friend of mine always used to say: it doesn’t get any better than this! Well, actually it does, or at least it can. However, how we view the world and how we perceive our lives in this world, hold us to the viewpoint we hold.

The reality is that we are lost in this world without God. We may not feel lost, but according to Him, we are lost and on our own without God in this world. So what does that mean? Well, in short, it means we are at the mercy of this world. And the world – the beliefs and systems of men – doesn’t accept the goodness of God. At all. Ever.

And? And so, because of that, we are left to the fallenness of mankind around us and all that comes along with that: every evil, confusing, and incomplete thing that there is. When a person sees God’s message of love and friendship for what it is compared to the world’s thoughts and what they are, it’s a no-brainer: I want what God offers. That is, unless I am so steeped in who I am and what I believe and how much I cling to the things of this world: evil, confusion, and a maddeningly, never finished, partial.

Thus the joy, like when one comes into contact the presence of warm sunshine in the middle of a harsh and blustery day. Thus the joy, of knowing I’ll finish this life finished, and enter into eternity complete. Thus the joy, of understanding and experiencing all that is truly good and not just empty advertising.

It’s no wonder these people were happy – they now had hope! Joy isn’t just a smile on my face and soul: joy is the knowledge that with God, it’s all really going to be okay and I get to be a part of it. That is good news, and that is worth smiling about.