Ecclesiastes 3:4(NIV)"a time to weep and a time to laugh"
Solomon went he wrote Ecclesiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything, and yes even a time to laugh. People who don't often laugh, joke or smile, often are very miserable and unhappy people.
I know scripture teaching us about coarse/crude joking, but we have to realize not everything you say joking or attempt at humor is coarse/crude or displeasing to God. Bible teaches us "love of money" is root of all evil not money itself and in this instance "joking" is not a sin, but the type of joking you do (coarse/crude).
I think God has a sense of humor and as we look at certain books of the Bible or characters we can pick up on their use of humor, such as Elijah in I Kings 18 taunting the Baal prophets or even Jesus' humor with the woman at the well in John 4, who said said she had no husband when Jesus told her to go get her husand, and he told her she was right that she's had 5 husbands and the guy she was living with now wasn't her husband. If you can't see the sarcasm in these examples you were baptized in prune juice or grumpy.
Seriously, though, we need to laugh and enjoy life. There is so much sin, hurt, tragedy, pain, and suffering in this time, we need times of laughter and humor or we're going to be miserable, bitter, unhealthy people.
Why do you think Solmon wrote Proverbs 17:22 (NIV)"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
I am not saying be so humorous you have no boundaries or standards or intentionally try to hurt, offend, or upset people or God, but at the same time, there are some unhappy, grouchy, stick in the mud folks out there "claiming" to have the joy of the Lord, but the Lord they are getting their joy from is not the same one I serve.
Being Holy doesn't mean being unhappy. Being an example doesn't mean being a dud. Being Christ-like doesn't mean being humorless. People are missing out on so much living by living by a set of rules that were man-made, church group made, or devil-made. You think the Devil wants you to have a good time and enjoy being a Christian? No! He wants us all to be uptight, relgious, legalistic, buzz-kill, kiljoys! He doesn't want anyone to enjoy being a Christian.
Satan wants to rob us of our joy and so in taking away our sense of humor or our laughter and joking, he takes away our power to practice joy. I'm not giving him that power. I'm going to laugh, I'm going to cut up, I'm going to tell jokes, and I'm going to laugh at others and what they say and do. That doesn't make me less of a christian, a bad example, or a heathen! It makes me human. It makes me realistic. If I cross the line or say or do something I shouldn't in the attempt at humor I feel the Holy Spirit will convict me and I will repent if I act in a way that doesn't please God or separates me from Him.
My point today is that God created us in His likeness and we are His. We were all created with different personalities and gifts and some of that might include a humourous personlity or gift of making others laugh, but all of us are capable of lauging and smiling and making others do the same.
Enjoy a laugh today. Make someone laugh. Make God laugh.
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