Fake Smiles

Even in laughter the heart may ache, and rejoicing may end in grief. Proverbs 14:13

Who says the Bible is irrelevant? The fact is, it is filled with truth, from Genesis to Revelation, showing birth, life and death in a real context. The above verse is one of those uneasy truths, and somehow I know you will relate, but it is equally good to hold onto the verse: “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3”. It’s not only in the Bible, the secular world knows this truth too, and is mirrored in the words of the old song:

Smile, though your heart is aching
Smile, even though it’s breaking
When there are clouds in the sky
you’ll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow.

How do you know the smile of the heartbroken or sorrowful? You don’t. It’s as simple as that. I was reminded again today that the folks who can smile convincingly, are the very ones who carry the heaviest load. You might think they are just good actors, but I happen to believe they have a very keen sense of their own humanity and mortality. Not in a morbid sense, but in such a way that they see life more clearly, and that includes being thankful for all that God has given them in the here and now.

I would be the last person to wish ill health or heartache on anyone, but when you are close to Jesus, you believe that everything will work out in His plan. On a personal level I had a lot of difficulty with Romans 8:28, but that was because I was looking on as my loved one went through the growing stages of cancer, and yet I saw that same trusting spirit in another fine Christian lady today. Neither would think negatively because they trusted the verse completely, but mostly because they have full confidence in their Saviour. And that’s exactly what Jesus would do in whatever form it takes. Jesus would ‘save’, and He does, because He was and is a ‘Saviour’. So, when you are having a really hard time, and as difficult as it sounds, take this verse to heart. Romans 8:28 is still true and it works today: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

The Grieved Spirit

A good friend has a saying: ‘I’d rather have a sore face than a red face’ and I know exactly how he feels and what he means. We hate being embarrassed, and try to avoid it at all costs but we don’t always succeed. In fact, we can also be the reason for some others’ embarrassment, and there are time we do it intentionally.

On a legal theme, we are told that it is more important to recognise and honour the spirit of the law, rather than just the letter of the law. Now take it a step further into our faith lives and ask yourself if you ever embarrass the Lord, either intentionally or not? I think we all have done that, and immediately regretted our actions, feeling that we have grieved God, and our own spirit reacts to the Holy Spirit in contrition. Taking the Holy Spirit for granted, and calculating our sin in advance of ‘assumed future forgiveness’ is a very dangerous thing. I suggest that is more of a conniving heart, than a contrite heart. The bible tells us in Jeremiah 17:9 that the ‘heart is deceitful above all things, and beyond cure’.

We are all very familiar with the forgiving nature of God, and we are right to be very thankful for it. We serve a God of the second chance! So what do we do with these verses: And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man. Genesis 6:3 or Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Matthew 12:32

Since Scripture is inspired and cannot contradict itself, we cannot afford to ignore these verses. You can rationalise the first one, and say it applies to the Genesis flood only, but you cannot do that with the words of Jesus, so we must take care when we already know the way and choose to take His Word for granted and abuse it. In that respect, could it be that the saved have a much greater responsibility to keep His commandments, than the unsaved to find salvation. According to these verses, the eternal result would be the same. Now that’s a staggering and sobering thought.