On my office wall is a drawing of a laughing Jesus. His eyes are closed, his head thrown back, and his mouth open. I enjoy that picture because I think it accurately portrays the daily lifestyle of Jesus. He was happy, he was free, he loved life, and he had a good time doing what he did. He was happy and free because he lived in love toward all people, even his enemies, so that he walked in constant forgiveness. He carried no grudges. Because he lived out Psalms 119:165 with the Word of God being his constant companion and comfort, and his faithful guide and fatherly source of wisdom, he was able to stay in that path of love with no offence taken. With the Father’s love filling him at all times, he was able to look beyond the faults of others to see their needs. Jesus was anointed, he was “smeared” with the miracle-working power of the Spirit of God. He received and learned to cooperate with the “Holy Ghost” (KJV). Because he chose to yield his life to moving with the Spirit of God, he was an instrument of God to supernaturally help many people. Even though he is also called “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3), there are several places in the scriptures that indicate that Jesus must have had a lot of fun going around healing and setting people free with the power of God (Isaiah 12:3; Zephaniah 3:17; Hebrews 1:9). And why wouldn’t he? Who doesn’t enjoy seeing the children enjoy good things? We all do, and so does the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and even the angels in heaven rejoice when good things are received by the people. Then when Jesus left the earth, he sent the same power on the church with the same rejoicing evident to all, even affecting whole cities (Acts 2:15,26,28,41,46; 8:8; 13:52).
That’s what we all need in 2021 folks – a good dose of the Holy Ghost, getting high on Jesus instead of with entertainments, pride of life, and personal agendas. And we preachers need it first. We need to really realize what we have in Christ and carry it out to the people with the power of the Spirit of God. And if that doesn’t prove to be fun to us, then our wood is too wet to burn. We need to repent and get right with God the Bible way and be filled with God’s joy, the power of the Spirit of God, which is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Without his joy we only smolder, making people’s eyes burn with smoke. We’ve got to be on fire to light up the world. Let’s get to know the joyful Jesus in 2021!