Rejoice in the Lord (You Could Start with a Smile!)

written by Brad Boruff on the topic of Miscellaneous on October, 2011

I don’t always feel like smiling, do you? Every now and then, I run across someone who seems to think that I am happy 100% of the time. This always takes me off guard a little bit, and then I realize what has happened. People see me when I am leading the singing in church or walking down the hallway, and they are seeing me do something that gives them the idea that I am happy. They are seeing me smile. I smile, and they assume that I am always happy. We are commanded in Philippians 4:4,

Rejoice in the Lord alway.

I doubt any of us completely obeys this command, but each of us could begin with a smile.

As a teenager, I was encouraged to smile when I was practicing to sing in a competition. I was told that the judges would give more points. I think that was good training, but I have found through the years that this kind of smile is only external and doesn’t necessarily indicate a heart of rejoicing.

When I was in Bible college, I remember seeing a fellow student who was an usher in the chapel services, and I noticed that he always had a smile. I did not know him, but I saw that he was always smiling. I was homesick, lonely, and discouraged. I don’t know if he ever felt the way I did, but when I saw him, he always looked happy. I thought, I’m not very smart, I can’t do much, but I can smile.

I determined that I was going to work at smiling, but I found that it did not come naturally. Just plastering a fake smile on my face wasn’t working; I had to truly rejoice in the Lord in order to have a genuine smile on my face. I found that in those circumstances, there were not a lot of things to get excited about. However, I knew I was saved, and I could be excited about that. Jesus told his disciples that they should rejoice because their names were written in heaven (Luke 10:20).

We are commanded to rejoice all of the time. The truth is that I do not rejoice 100% of the time, but I should. I have been taught to rejoice, I have seen great examples of rejoicing that I have tried to emulate, but I don’t do as well as I ought to do. However, I have found that when I do rejoice, others are encouraged to rejoice with me. It has been said that the countenance is the window of the soul. Our faces certainly tell a story about what is going on in our hearts. If we are truly happy in the Lord, it will be evidenced on our faces. Whether we are greeting a friend, sharing the Gospel, or singing a song, our faces ought to give evidence of a heart that is rejoicing in the Lord.