What is it about a sign that says, "Wet Paint" that demands a person touch it? It is almost like a magnet... when you see that sign you can’t help but wonder if it really is wet. You are drawn to it, and, for some reason, your hand almost HAS to touch it.
There might be some sense that we don’t believe it is really wet and therefore the sign can come down. We think some yahoo has gone off and left a sign beyond the time required. Perhaps there were too lazy to come back and take the sign down.
Maybe, we figure it is dry enough and we want to know what the texture is going to be like, so we touch it.
I don’t know why, but it almost always happens... you put a sign up and someone will touch it.
The Apostle John tells us about touching something else, let’s read...
Scripture
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched-this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
John is talking about touching God. He says, "...concerning the Word of Life;" that’s Jesus, that they had seen and heard and even touched. He says, "...our fellowship is with the Father..."
Jesus taught that when we had seen Him we had seen the Father in Heaven. So it makes sense that if we touch Jesus we touch the Father. John actually walked with Jesus, talked with Him, sat with Him, ate with Him and ... touched Him. He had physically touched Jesus so he can testify with authority that Jesus is the Son of God.
Just last Sunday we celebrated, again, the resurrection of Jesus. We acknowledged, again, that Jesus rose from the dead... that means He is alive... now and forevermore. I suggest to you that if Jesus is alive it is still possible to touch Him... and perhaps, more importantly, to be touched by Him.
We are drawn to God like we are drawn to wet paint. He created us to be in fellowship with Him. If we don’t connect with God we are left with a deep hole in our spirit. A God sized hole that can’t be filled with anything else. It is a place for God to live... in our hearts. And if God isn’t there we feel lost, incomplete, lacking.
But when we know we have God we have that peace that passes understanding and a joy that cannot be explained to someone who doesn’t have it. We sang the song... we have that joy, joy, joy, joy... we have the peace that passes understanding ... ‘where?’ ... down in our heats.
This being humor Sunday I looked up the various places in the Bible that have to do with laughter, joy, happiness. I found nearly 100 verses. In the Old Testament, the word is sechowq (sekh-oke') and means laughter or merriment. In the New Testament, the Greek is gelao (ghel-ah'-o); meaning to laugh as a sign of joy or satisfaction. God created joy and along with joy we often find ourselves laughing.
There are a great many stupid things we all do in this life. At the time we feel strongly about whatever it is that we are doing. Sometimes we even get so angry our faces turn red, our blood pressure rises and our stomach begins to churn. We will defend our actions with words, with lawsuits, with fists, and in the old west, with guns. But many times, when all is said and done and we have a few weeks, months or years behind those moments, we find the whole situation silly and we laugh at ourselves for being so ridiculous.
Laughter is a powerful tool. We can use it to break the ice with someone we don’t know very well... a good joke helps us, somehow, bond. We can use laughter to break tension. I often use it with brides and grooms on a wedding day. A wisecrack or joke can ease people’s anxiety. A well placed joke can provide a little relief in a difficult situation.
Shakespear always put laughs in at various places in his plays. He knew that you can’t keep a person on the edge of drama very long without an escape for all that tension.
Laughter is important to our health and well being. Good, strong belly laughs release chemicals in our brains that keeps us healthy. These ‘endorphins’ can even heal us. In 1964 a man named Norman Cousins laughed himself a cure. The doctors felt he had been exposed to heavy metal poisoning and he was in a great deal of pain. The large doses of narcotics didn’t seem to be helping. He hired a nurse to read him funny stories and he watched hours and hours of Marx Brothers and 3 Stooges movies. To everyone’s amazement... he cured himself... with laughter.
God created laughter. It does us good to laugh.
I can’t believe that in those three years of traveling together, Jesus and all those Disciples didn’t cut up from time to time. I think Jesus probably giggled and guffawed and probably even pulled a few pranks on those silly fishers of men.
Conclusion
We have touched wet paint, but we have also touched God and been touched by Him, and we are filled with joy because of it.
There is nothing wrong with laughter and having a light spirit. Laugh hard, laugh often, laugh long and laugh with friends!
May God grant us continued joy as testify that we have a song in our hearts, laughter on our lips and the touch of God in our lives.
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