May 28, 2025
by Pastor Chuck SwindollScriptures: Philippians 1:21–22
When you are my age—matter of fact, when you are any age—a sense of humor is essential. I once heard a great talk from a veteran missionary who spoke on “What I Would Pack in My Suitcase If l Were to Return to the Mission Field.” The first item he named?
For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.
But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ. So I really
don’t know which is better.
(Philippians 1:21–22)
When you are my age—matter of fact, when you are any age—a sense
of humor is essential. I once heard a great talk from a veteran missionary
who spoke on “What I Would Pack in My Suitcase If l Were to Return to the
Mission Field.” The first item he named? A sense of humor. A friend of mine
who once served the Lord for several years on foreign soil has a similar
saying: “You need two things if you want to be happy in God's work overseas:
a good sense of humor and no sense of smell!”
I have discovered that a joyful countenance has nothing to do with one’s
age or one’s occupation (or lack of it) or one’s geography or education or
marital status or good looks or circumstances. Joy is a choice. It is a
matter of attitude that stems from one’s confidence in God—that He is at
work, that He is in full control, that He is in the midst of whatever has
happened, is happening, and will happen. Either we fix our minds on that
and determine to laugh again, or we wail and whine our way through life,
complaining that we never got a fair shake. We are the ones who consciously
determine which way we shall go. To paraphrase the poet:
One ship sails east
One ship sails west
Regardless of how the winds blow.
It is the set of the sail
And not the gale
That determines the way we go. 1
Laughing one’s way through life depends on nothing external. Regardless of
how severely the winds of adversity may blow, we set our sails toward joy.
Perhaps this is a good place for me to identify three of these most
notorious thieves at work today. All three, by the way, can be resisted by
firm confidence. The first joy stealer is worry. The second is stress. And
the third is fear. They may seem alike, but there is a distinct difference.
How do we live with worry and stress and fear? How do we withstand these
joy stealers? Go back to Paul’s words in Philippians 1:6:
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in
you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.