If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet If you're happy and you know it, shout amen! If you're happy and you know it, shout amen! If you're happy and you know it then your face will surely show it If you're happy and you know it, shout amen!
We sing this song with our little ones in Bible school. Their faces show how happy and excited they are to be in class and to be able to show their joy in being there with their friends to learn about Jesus and sing songs about Him.
Or what about this one?
I’ve got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart
How joyful are their little faces, full of excited energy, to show the love of Jesus in their hearts?
Now let’s travel to the auditorium (or sanctuary, depending on who you ask) for the “corporate worship service”.
When we sing praises to God, are we happy and we know it? Do our faces surely show it? Or do we sit like knots on logs and sing emotionlessly?
I know, I know. The verse you are going to present to me. 1 Corinthians 14:40: “Let all things be done decently and in order.”
But when did “decently and in order” become synonymous with “emotionless and wooden”? As we often do, I feel that in attempting to avoid “chaos”, we have let the pendulum swing too far in the other direction. Why should we suppress the urge to clap when we are happy? Or smile and laugh in joy. Or shed tears when we are moved. Or tap our toes, clap our hands, allow ourselves to feel God moving through us through our songs. When and why do we teach our children it is no longer okay to show our joy?
You know, for that matter, why do we want others to think that Christianity is joyless? Before you remind me how we preach that joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (it is), or that we teach joy in Christ (we do), let me present a few verses myself.
Jesus, after telling us how much He loves us and before reminding us to love each other, says in John 15:11, “I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!” If something is overflowing, there is evidence of it. You can see it, feel it. There’s no hiding it. It can’t be contained.
Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:8, “You love Him even though you have not seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.” You rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. We are so full of joy, it can’t be expressed properly. And we rejoice! While joy is a noun, rejoice is a verb – it requires action. It is the manifestation of our joy.
Same idea in Philippians 4:4: “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” There’s that verb again. Don’t just feel it, show it!
If you’re happy and you know it, sit in solemnity with your hands folded silently in your lap!
OR…..
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands, stomp your feet, and shout amen!
I want to show the world around me that I’m on fire for Jesus, overflowing with His Spirit, and I can’t help but show it!
