Living under the laughter of God

Albert Bogle June 18, 2026 3 1

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Romans 5: 1-8 (NIV-UK)

1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You may not see it to begin with, but there is a joy and a holy boasting to be found in the theology that Paul expresses in Romans 5: 1-8. It’s as though he has experienced the effect I mentioned yesterday of laughing with God. It's as though he made this his approach to living. The cross of Christ has brought peace into his heart. Now he stands cheering God for the grace he has received. When he least deserved it.

He laughs in the face of suffering knowing that the suffering cannot rob him of the new relationship he has with the God who brings light into dark places and sprinkles new salt flavour into lives that have been thrown out as useless. As Jürgen Moltmann beautifully reminded us, true Christian hope isn't a passive waiting, but a "living, active hope" that embraces the future right now. It is a hope that allows us to say 'Yes' to life, even when everything around us says 'No.'

This is the absurdity that makes him laugh with delight. He rejoices in the hope of the glory of God. It is the recognition that our pain is never a sign of God’s absence; rather, God is closest to us precisely where it hurts. Even when believers like us were beyond the pale, Christ Jesus turned the sneer of a sinful life into the laughter and joy of a life redeemed. In the end, our joy is secure because, as Moltmann so simply put it, "God's ultimate joy is to be with us, and our ultimate joy is to be with God.” And that is what I’ve been writing about when I talk about a life lived in the laughter of God.

Prayer:

Lord,

I never thought laughter

To be such a holy experience

A resounding sound of love

Echoing all around me

Allowing me to stand

And clap

And sing in harmony

With others defying death itself

Laughing defiantly

Living defiantly

Being embraced and surprised

By the laughter from the resurrection

Turning a laughing stock — ridiculed and mocked

Into an ambassador of grace

Describes the sheer absurdity of God’s love

Breathing life into a dead man’s cackle

Turning mourning into dancing