At a London train station one day, a woman was stopped by an elderly man.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” he said, “but I want to thank you for something.”
“Thank me!” the women exclaimed.
“Yes’m, I used to be the ticket collector, and whenever you went by you always gave me a cheerful smile and a ‘good mornin’.’ You don’t know what a difference it made to me.
“Wet weather or dry, it was always the same, and I thought to myself,
‘Wonder where she gets her smile from; one can’t always be happy, yet she seems to.’
"I knew that smile must come from inside somehow.
“Then one morning you came by and you had a little Bible in your hand. I said to myself, ‘Perhaps that’s where she gets her smile from.’ So on my way home that night I bought a Bible, and I’ve been reading it, and I’ve found Christ. Now I can smile, too, and I want to thank you,”
That, my friends, is the power of a Holy Spirit filled smile! Who knows how many lives you can touch simply by letting His joy burst forth in your smile!
As you and I seek to be God’s witnesses today, in dependence on the supernatural power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we should be mindful constantly of the fact that the joy of the Lord can indeed be our strength. That joy inevitably will shine on our faces, regardless of circumstances.
In the words of an anonymous poem:
“If you live close to God
And His infinite grace
You don’t have to tell;
It shows on your face.”
Of course we are to look for opportunities to tell people about Jesus, but our smile can lead the way and open doors.
“…the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10b)
By Bill Bright, Promises
Copyright ©2022 Bright Media Foundation