I've got a permanent case of the giggles

On Sunday, worn out from bailing the basement, I stayed home from church and decided to watch a Sunday morning evangelist on TV. Thousands of people were gathered in person, and I can only guess how many were watching with me remotely as the preacher delivered his sermon. And I use that term loosely.

I have been forever tainted by hearing my husband preach the Word of God. Even before he went to school, he delivered an expository message that takes a passage in the Bible and explains it within context and then challenges you to apply it to your life. I suppose some people might find that type of sermon too 'heavy' but I would say that a topical sermon (which picks a topic and then cites verses to support it) could really twist the meaning of the Word of God. A sermon should teach you something about God's Word and make you think about applying it to your own life, not entertain you and water down the truth.

Take for example, this past Sunday morning. The message was "The Healing Power of Laughter," which translated to a series of funny stories glued together by various disparate Bible verses. I don't doubt that each of the stories he claimed to be true were, in fact, true. I would agree that it was 30 minutes that was not unpleasant. There was even a nice message in there -- your life will be better if you laugh more. But I also don't understand how it was a sermon. This guy claimed that sickness, cancer, depression and marital woes could be cured by laughter. But he never talked about how you can have that kind of laughter within you to start with. Well, he did say that you should read funny books and watch funny movies. Hmmm, not what I was thinking. Instead of quoting Proverbs that many people have heard before (A joyful heart is good medicine....17:22), why not explain how you can be filled with joy? Where does that kind of laughter come from?

The book of Philippians was written by the Apostle Paul from a Roman prison. Many people believe this letter was written about the same time that Nero was feeding Christians to lions and burning their bodies to light his feasts. It would have been a little tough for Paul to work up a belly laugh in these kinds of conditions, far from his friends and fellow Christians, but nearly every paragraph in the book contains the word "joy" or "joyous". Paul had true joy, joy that is always within, and I would challenge that you cannot have that kind of joy without knowing God. When you understand the love of God, and accept eternal life through Christ Jesus, you know how things end. Regardless of your past or your present or even what may come, you know that in the end, good triumphs over evil, that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil 1:6) When you base your life on this fact, it matters not what trials may come. When the joy comes from within, you can laugh in the worst of circumstances.

Do I believe that laughter can heal? Well, I believe that both laughter and healing come from God. Is it the laughter that heals, or is it God that brings both laughter and healing to those that are sick? Is this laughter simply a sign of God's healing presence? Here is what I know, from personal experience: I can laugh, really laugh, now that I'm following God's plan for my life. I know there is nothing that God doesn't know, nothing He can't pull back on course. I don't expect that I won't catch a cold, or even that I won't have struggles with depression, but I do know that I am eternally loved by God, and that is always good for a giggle.