What a joyful and happy place the kingdom of heaven we are going to must be! The Bible tells us that the things of this earth are a copy and shadow of the things in heaven (Heb 8:5). So, if we carefully examine the feelings of joy which God has given us human beings, we can realize the true joy and happiness that we will enjoy in heaven.

The joy and pleasure we feel are expressed through a smile or laughter. In everyday conversations, when we talk about gloomy and heavy topics or negative things, we feel uncomfortable and our faces get stiff. On the contrary, when we talk about something funny or pleasant, it brings a smile or laugher to our faces. While letting out a gust of laughter, we lay down the burdens of our hearts and enjoy the feelings of joy to the full, though temporarily. At least for that moment, everyone feels like in heaven.

As the Bible says, “Train yourself to be godly” (1 Ti 4:7), we need to train ourselves to be godly and to be joyful as well, so that we can enter the kingdom of heaven overflowing with joy. God helps us His children live the life of faith with joy and gladness.

Zion full of joy and gladness

Jesus says that those who do the will of God will enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt 7:21). So, being joyful always is also God’s will that we should put into practice.

1 Th 5:16–18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Until now, we have treasured God’s laws including the Sabbath and the Passover as His commandments we must keep, but we have often forgotten God’s command to rejoice all the time. God has told us to “be joyful always.” We have been saved from sin and death so that we can go to heaven where there are eternal life and joy. So, is there any reason that we can’t be joyful always?

If we examine the history of Abraham’s family, we can see that Abraham’s sole heir was named Isaac, which means “laughter.” Since the Bible says that we are “children of promise like Isaac,” shouldn’t we always live a life full of smile, joy and gratitude as those who have received such a precious promise from God? If we do so, we can bring a smile to Heavenly Father and Mother just as Isaac brought laughter to his father Abraham and his mother Sarah (Ge 21:1–7; Gal 4:28).

If we do not always rejoice and smile, it is probably because we have not yet fully realized the value of God’s promise even though we have already received it. Those who have confidence in their salvation live a life of continuous joy every day. As God calls us children of promise like Isaac, whose name means “laughter,” let us always smile and laugh as children of heaven. The Bible shows us that Zion, where the children of promise like Isaac are gathered together, is a place full of joy and gratitude.

Isa 51:3 “The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.”

God says that joy and gladness, thanksgiving and the sound of singing will be found in Zion. The sounds of joy and singing never cease in Zion, whereas the sounds of pain, groaning and sighing are found in this world. This is the difference between Zion and this world.

Jesus says that not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the words of the Bible until everything is accomplished (Mt 5:18). So, Zion must be a place full of joy and gladness. When we go to heaven, we will be filled with joy every day, but we should try to live a life full of joy and gratitude on this earth first.

Mother creates joy

It is said that children laugh an average of 400 times a day, while adults laugh only eight times a day on average; when they are over 50, the number of times they laugh drastically decreases.

Why do you think children laugh much more often than adults do? It’s because they always have their mothers beside them, who is the source of their laughter. When their mothers smile, they also smile. When their mothers play with them, they burst out laughing. When their mothers say “peek-a-boo!” they can’t stop laughing. As they grow up, however, they spend less time with their mothers. This probably reduces the amount and number of times they laugh.

Isa 65:17–19 “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.”

The Bible says that God’s people will be glad and rejoice forever in heaven—a new heaven and a new earth. When we go to the eternal kingdom of heaven, it will surely be filled with the sound of joy and gladness and the sound of singing to God. On the contrary, the sound of weeping and mourning and the sound of groaning in pain will be heard in hell—a place of eternal fire and torment. That is why Mother teaches us Her children, who will enter the kingdom of heaven, to live out the gospel always with joy and smiles.

The Bible says that joy and gladness are created through Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem that is above refers to our Mother who is free (Gal 4:26). Just as children laugh a lot when they are in their mothers’ arms, Zion which God has established on the earth is always filled with joy and smiles because Jerusalem our Mother who creates joy is with us.

Isa 66:10–14 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.” For this is what the LORD says: “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.

God has told us His children, who are like-minded with Jerusalem, to rejoice with Her and be glad for Her. Living in this world does not always bring people moments of happiness without worries and anxieties. We, however, can sublimate any sadness we encounter while living on this earth into joy and gladness, because Jerusalem our Mother who creates joy is with us.

Always thinking of Mother and Her teachings, we need to share joy and happiness with one another. It is in Zion that we can always be joyful in God our Savior (Heb 3:18) and can turn the sound of sorrow and sighing into the sound of joy, gladness, and singing.

Difference in thinking

There was a man who had suffered from an inferiority complex about being too short compared to his other friends, since his childhood days. One day when he was reading a book, he found a message saying, “Accepting the things you cannot change is the key to happiness.” Then he decided to change his thoughts because he could not change his height no matter how hard he tried.

As he examined himself carefully, he found that he was capable of many things that were hard for tall people to do. Thanks to his short stature, he could even wear children’s clothes; and when it rained, he got less wet than taller people. When he calmly counted the things he could do, he realized that there were so many things he was good at. This may seem ridiculous, but the slight change in his thinking helped him overcome his lifelong inferiority complex.

Happiness and misfortune depend on our thoughts. Some people hate roses just because they have thorns, while others love roses because they are beautiful though they have thorns. Those who do not laugh a lot are the ones who focus on the thorns of roses, and those who laugh a lot are the ones who focus on the roses themselves. Although we are placed in unfavorable situations or circumstances, when we change our way of thinking slightly, we can turn misfortune into happiness.

It is said that one’s face is a mirror reflecting his or her thoughts. Those whose thoughts are full of joy always look happy and cheerful. So, when people visit our Church of God, they compliment our brothers and sisters on their bright smiles. They all say that they are very touched by our members’ warm welcome with beautiful smiles and by their care and thoughtfulness. Since God, who gives joy, is with them and they have hope for heaven in their hearts, they feel happy and it reflects on their faces.

Though our life is tough and painful today, let us not forget that we are going to heaven where there will be no more sorrow or pain but an overflowing joy forever. We should not look at our God-given circumstances by the same standards as people in the world, but by the standards of those who will go to heaven.

Smiling is the secret of gaining ten talents

A university in the United States conducted an experiment about sales strategies. The university asked three selected stores to display the same products with the same prices, and let the employees in each store sell them with different facial expressions. As a result, they produced different sales results; 85 percent of customers purchased items from the store where the employees welcomed their customers with a warm smile and greeting, and no one visited the store where the employees wore angry faces.

It is the same with us who are introducing the kingdom of God to people. If we preach the gospel with gloomy and angry faces, no one would listen to us. The gospel we preach is the good news that God will free human beings from the yoke of grief and sadness over sin and death and lead them to the world of joy and happiness. As those who are entrusted with the gospel, we must not work with gloomy and angry faces. It is not the will of God.

Mt 25:14–30 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’. . . Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ”

God has given us the mission of preaching the gospel in these last days. In the parable of the talents, those who put their talents to work and gained more talents received a compliment from the master, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” but the one who gained nothing was deprived of even the one talent that he had and was thrown outside, into the darkness.

The Bible says that those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars in heaven forever and ever (Da 12:3). Think about how those who gained ten talents by leading many to righteousness put their talents to work. They must have worked hard, overflowing with joy and thankfulness according to God’s will; we can definitely imagine it through the results of the university’s experiment mentioned above as well. On the contrary, the one who received one talent must have wasted time doing nothing, with negative thoughts, doubts, worries and anxieties in his heart, instead of joy and gladness.

Let us not bring pain and suffering on ourselves by fearing things that have not happened yet, like the foolish servant with the one talent. Instead, let us always think of heaven full of joy and gladness and turn even a difficult situation into an opportunity for happiness, like the wise servant. If we rejoice and smile all the time according to God’s word, we will all be able to gain ten talents.

Let us reflect on ourselves and see if we have been living always with joy, just as Father and Mother have taught us to “be joyful always.” God allows us to taste a little bit of heaven through the joy and happiness we feel in our short lives on this earth, and wants us all to enter the eternal kingdom of heaven by changing ourselves until we become worthy enough to live in the kingdom of heaven. That is why God has told us to be like Isaac.

Since this world is a spiritual city of refuge, we cannot escape sorrow, pain and suffering. Changing the groans of pain and sorrow into the sounds of joy and singing—this is what those who believe in God must do. As children of God, let us put into practice God’s command to “be joyful always” wherever we are—whether we are at home, at school, or at work, and also bring the joy and happiness that Heavenly Mother creates to all people in our neighborhood, community, country, and even to the whole world.