laughter isn't always the best medicine

my husband recently shared with me something he'd heard on a radio sermon: a hollywood producer was overheard saying that to make a successful sitcom, you have to break at least 3 of the Ten Commandments. then as viewers, we laugh at it... the pastor, adrian rodgers, made this very good point: as soon as we laugh at something, we won't take it seriously anymore.
think about it.

• have you ever been watching a show and heard someone yell, 'O MY G-D!' in a crazy and hilarious way? were you tempted to laugh? or did you bust out laughing without even thinking?
• or how about this? the other night we were watching Wipeout on ABC. they paired a supposedly 'Christian' girl with a guy who claimed to be enlightened and into far eastern religion. the commentators joked about him having a third eye, which, i confess, i laughed long and hard about because they drew an obnoxious eyeball on his forehead. i didn't even notice that i might be laughing at the worship of another god besides God. at one point, he was struggling and the girl said, 'maybe you should pray to Buddha!' ...said as a joke, but not a joke. worshipping another god will result in spending eternity in hell! that's scary, not funny!
• i know i've seen those moments on tv where someone is claiming not to be superstitious, but then the camera cuts to their collection of rabbit's feet, or some crazy shrine they have in the corner of their room... and we laugh at their inconsistency, ultimately at them having an idol.
• as far as the Sabbath day commandment goes, i think so many americans already don't take that seriously that they don't even need to laugh at it anymore to be desensitized...
• 'honor your father and mother.' i'm sure you can think of someone on a sitcom rolling his eyes at his parent or making funny faces behind their backs... we chuckle... no big deal, right?
• we may not think we laugh at murder, but what about shows where the scene suddenly breaks away to show what the person is thinking? a businessman is sitting in his office chair and his boss comes in and complains. the businessman listens intently and promises to make a change. as the boss walks away, the scene shows the businessman wielding a huge machine gun and blowing the boss into oblivion. but then the camera clicks back to reality with the businessman frustratedly watching the back of the boss leaving. and we laugh... partly because we can imagine having that thought. but it's murder.
• adultery? the laughter never seems to stop on this subject. we laugh at men gawking at women they're not married to. we laugh at women cheating on their spouses with the mailman. we laugh at the wife joking about sleeping with a coworker. we laugh at men thinking about another woman while kissing his wife... the list goes on. it's no wonder we don't take marriage seriously in the US anymore.
• have you laughed at a guy surreptitiously looking around to make sure no one's watching before taking someone else's lunch from the work fridge? or how about a kid being told not to touch the cookies mom just baked, and the next scene you see is the mom walking in to find one lone cookie left on the cooling rack? you're laughing at stealing. it might seem small, but it's wrong.
• what about lying? that same scene with the missing cookies might end up with the mom asking the kid if he ate those cookies. 'no,' he says, with cookie crumbles on his face... and we chortle. or how about this recent phone ad that was supposed to be funny: a man is at the office working late and gets a call from his wife, who reminds him that it's their anniversary. he looks shocked; he clearly (to us) forgot. but because of his crazy/amazing phone he can lie and tell her he remembered and tell her he's on his way while he multitasks and looks up restaurant reservations and purchases flowers fast, all to keep his lie alive and mislead his wife. people laugh... he lied and got away with it; isn't it funny?
• lastly, coveting. this one is laughed at and enjoyed almost as much as unfaithfulness. the 'cool kid' walks into the lunchroom at school, in slow motion and glowing, while the outcast kid looks longingly at him. or neighbor couples are having dinner together and one of the men inadvertently lets it slip that he thinks the other man's wife is 'hot.' we laugh at his freudian slip. we laugh at his wife looking horrified. gross. and as i write this, an ad just came on for KFC chicken. a guy and his lady are sitting and eating their chicken. some dreamy music starts and the man looks up wistfully at another woman who is dipping her chicken in all sorts of sauces and putting it slowly in her mouth. suddenly he gets tapped by his lady, the music stops abruptly, and she says, 'keep your eyes on your own chicken.' everyone watching knows the double entendre is 'keep your eyes on your own woman,' but for some reason it's presented as clever and supposedly funny. in reality, you're laughing at coveting, at lust.

sometimes we are laughing at our humanness, at our mistakes, and it's ok to realize we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously. BUT when we carelessly laugh too much, we refuse to acknowledge the seriousness of sin. we are wandering into dangerous waters.
think about what you're laughing at. don't be careless. sin is serious. your soul is at stake. tv may be your way of escaping for a few minutes from your busy world, but we must stay on guard! the spiritual fight doesn't stop when you turn on the tv. in fact, most of the time, the battle gets heated up! Satan knows how to attack when you least suspect it.

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, 

but against the rulers, against the authorities,

against the powers of this dark world 

and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Ephesians 6:12

don't put down your sword when you need it the most.

the words from our mouths 2

back in february, i wrote about examining our words: Feb 2012 swearing blog. our words are important, and i have been hearing people exclaim 'Jesus Christ' or 'God' more and more, here and there, almost always as swear words.
of course i think: it's so terrible that people are disrespecting God's name and using it so flippantly.
then i had a new thought... people use the words when they have high emotion about something. like i said in my earlier blog, it can be 'fear, surprise, anger, amazement, irritation unhappiness, happiness, pain, frustration, weariness...' and the list probably goes on. what disrespect, what carelessness!
but think about this: why DO you say the name 'Jesus' or 'God' when you are exclaiming about something? why not Buddha or Mohammed? why not your own name?
could it be because somewhere deep inside you know that God is the only person who could really do something about your situation??
have you ever considered that maybe that's the only Name with real power, and that if something is troubling you, or when something bad happens, you should go to Him?
you see, when you see a car crash happen in front of you and you feel powerless to help, and you find yourself gasping, 'Oh my God,' He hears you. what if your very soul is crying for help from the author of life Himself?
or when your friend throws you the best birthday party ever, you find yourself exclaiming the same Name: 'Oh my God, Suzy, it's beautiful!!' what if it's because you are feeling such thankfulness and appreciation that you can't contain it? it's something so good that it can't possibly just be human kindness, it's something that reminds you of what a good God would be.
how about when someone jumps out of the closet and scares you silly, and you exclaim 'Jesus Christ!' He's actually listening. you've just had a moment when you couldn't control the reaction of your own body - you jumped, your adrenaline rushed, you screamed... and really, if there had been a real threat, Jesus is the only One who could do anything about it.
or even when you stub your toe and cry out in pain and annoyance, you're not going to call on something else to heal you.. and you wouldn't expect anyone else to have prevented it from happening. God is the only one in control.
it is when we come to the end of ourselves and realize we are no longer in control that we cry out for someone else to take over, to DO SOMETHING. you don't cry out your own name because you know you are already at the end of your power. and you may train yourself to cry out some other name, just to spite God, but your soul will always know that God is the only place to go. He is the only REAL supernatural power that can come to your aid. He is the only God who exists.
so even though it IS completely disrespectful and hideous when people yell God's name while simultaneously rejecting Him, and even though each of us WILL be held accountable for every careless word we've spoken, maybe the first step is to realize WHY you say what you say.

"He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; 

yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." 

Ecclesiastes 3:11

your heart knows there is a God. your soul knows that it is made to live forever. if you find yourself crying, yelling, or even spewing God's name in a moment of emotion, think about it. He is actually there. He is waiting for you to MEAN IT when you say it.

trying to find that green meadow...

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" 
Philippians 4:4

ok that sounds nice. i've heard or read that verse many times... it makes me think of green meadows and sunlight, flowers and butterflies. it makes me think of those moments when i can't keep the smile off my face...
but wait, it says, "ALWAYS." ok, there's not always a smile on my face. most days my life is about as far away from that green, sunlit meadow as it can be. most days i'm caught up in the daily-ness of life, wondering what my purpose is, wondering how i got old without knowing it. most days i avoid watching the news because it tells me the world is shooting, stabbing, and killing itself in the midst of wars, injustice, bad government, and broken families. just yesterday, only a short drive from my house, at least 7 people were killed in a terrible and senseless shooting at a sikh temple.
how do i rejoice when i hear that?
and how about the future? is it just more of the same? every generation says they're worried for their children because the world is so terrible... and it's getting worse! what about my own personal future? i'm getting older, which means more pain, more regrets... and death.
where's the joy there? it sounds terrible!
actually, this is not a surprise if you read the Bible:

"But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 

People will be lovers of themselves,  lovers of money,

 boastful, proud, abusive,

disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, 

unholy, without love, unforgiving, 

slanderous, without self-control, brutal, 

not lovers of the good, 

treacherous, rash, conceited, 

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God 

--- having a form of godliness but denying its power.... 

always learning but

NEVER ABLE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRUTH..."

2 Timothy 3:1-5, 7

is there any doubt that we are living in the midst of the last days? doesn't this describe the USA to a tee??! sometimes i just want to escape! how do i rejoice in the midst of this??!
what's up with Philippians 4:4? what kind of unfair, impossible command is that?? how can i rejoice ever, let alone always?
FIRST SECRET: understand the word 'rejoice.' joy is NOT the equivalent of happy. we often get them mixed up. we think that if we're not happy and smiley, then something's wrong and we've 'lost our joy' - oh panic!
not the case.
JOY is something hopeful, something peaceful, something unexplainably contented, REGARDLESS of the circumstances.
let me tell you the story of Horatio Spafford, a Christian living in the mid-1800s. he was a prominent lawyer of Chicago, with a wife and 5 children. sounds like he had reason to be joyful, right?
well, in 1870, his only son, 4 years old, did of scarlet fever.
1871 rolled around and brought a fire that destroyed much of the Spaffords' wealth.
aching for a break, Horatio planned a family vacation to Europe in 1873. he sent his wife and 4 daughters ahead on a ship... and 9 days later he received a telegram from his wife that simply said, "Saved alone." the ship had collided with another ship and gone down in 12 minutes, along with their 4 remaining children and over 200 other people.
as Horatio made the terrible trip to Europe to meet his wife, he passed the spot where the ship had gone down with his children. alone with his grief and his thoughts, he wrote this song:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

"it is well with my soul???" how could he write those words? and most of all, how could he MEAN them? there are clues in the next two verses:

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control:

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

and that brings us to the SECOND SECRET to joy and peace and stability in the midst of the ugliness of the world. everything we do as a Christian is held up to Jesus. everything that happens to us is viewed through eternal eyes. the verse in Philippians says, 'rejoice in the LORD.' it doesn't say, 'have a party when someone dies,' or 'smile while you are being tortured.' the focus of our life, of our joy, is not our suffering, it's Jesus.

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who, for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

Hebrews 12:2

when something horrific happens, we remember the ultimate horror that God CHOSE to go through on our behalf. Jesus came to earth and DIED after excruciating SUFFERING. He did it because He loved us. He did it to save us from ourselves and from the world.
Jesus didn't come to earth so He could feel the breeze in his face or so He could dig His toes into the sand on the beach. He came to earth to SUFFER and DIE in our place. in the midst of His suffering - and it was the ugliest kind of suffering - He looked ahead to the JOY He would have when it was all over.
as Christians, our joy is a response to Him. it comes from the fact that Jesus nailed OUR sins to the cross! our joy is based on His ability and His choice to bring us joy.
we also base our joy on what happens after we die. this is the future that you can have if you accept Jesus' work on the cross:

"...the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. 

And so we will be with the Lord forever." 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

if you die before Jesus comes, will you be 'dead in Christ' or will you just be dead?
if you are still alive when He comes, will you be raised up to meet your Lord in the air? or will He find that you rejected Him and leave you for later judgement?

what do you trust in to bring YOU joy?
from where does YOUR peace come?

Jesus is waiting for you to experience the amazing joy He has prepared for you. He is waiting for you to live your life with contentment and assurance, no matter the circumstances.

does peace attend your soul?
if you had been Horatio Spafford, what song would you have written on that boat to Europe?

i leave you with the incredibly beautiful and hopeful words from Isaiah:

"Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way;

say to those with fearful hearts, 

'Be strong, do not fear;

your God will come, 

He will come with vengeance;

with divine retribution

He will come to save you.'

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened

and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then will the lame leap like a deer,

and the mute tongue shout for joy. 

Water will gush forth in the wilderness

and streams in the desert.

The burning sand will become a pool,

the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

And a highway will be there;

it will be called the Way of Holiness.

The unclean will NOT journey on it;

it will be for those who walk in that Way;

wicked fools will NOT go about on it.

NO lion will be there, 

NOR will any ferocious beast get up on it;

they will NOT be found there.

But only the redeemed will walk there,

and the ransomed of the Lord will return.

They will enter Zion with singing;

everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them,

and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35:3-7a, 8-10