What is a smile? A smile is simply, a frown turned upside down. Smiling is such an easy way to make yourself and others feel good. Don't we all want to make God smile and feel good about us? Pleasing God is the most effective way to make God smile. When we trust, obey, honor, follow and serve God; God is pleased with us.
What does psychology have to say about smiling? Whether your smile is genuine or not, it can act on your body and mind in a variety of positive ways, offering benefits for your health, your mood, and even the moods of people around you.
5 Acts of Worship That Make God Smile [Purpose Driven Life, R. Warren]
1] God wants us to love him supremely.
God loves us more than anyone else ever will. The greatest commandment comes from when a Pharisee lawyer asked Jesus a question in Matthew 22:36-38 " “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment." So, when we love God with all of our being, He surely smiles on us.
2] God wants us to completely trust in Him.
Psalms 147:11 "The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love." God smiles when our faith is in Him. Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." Noah's trust in God went above and beyond a normal sense of trust in building the ark; trust without knowing of what rain was b/c God irrigated the earth from the ground up before the Flood, trust because he lived hundreds of miles from an ocean and had no way to transport the ark, and trust in gathering and caring for all the animals that went on the ark.
3] God wants full obedience from us.
John 14:15 "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." God wants complete obedience, not partial or delayed obedience. God wants us to follow all of the Bible, not pick and choose the verses we like.
4] God wants continual praise and thanks given from us.
Hebrews 13:15 "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." Like all of us, God likes adoration and appreciation for all He has done, is doing, and will do for us.
5] God wants us to use our abilities.
2 Corinthians 5:9 "Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." God enjoys all aspects of us, except sin. He created us for His will and purposes.
"God has given his church this great dignity now, and in the days to come: We are the smile of God to one another, that we might know, and the world might see, that even in our suffering and pain, “it is good to be near God”" [desiringgod.org]
Psalm 73:28 "But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works."
As for myself, sometimes I just have to do as the old cliche says and 'grin and bear it' or smile through the pain. Yes, I want God to say to me with a smile at the end of my life's race, "Good job, my faithful servant!" I think some people expect me to be all smiles all the time and life just isn't like that. Heaven is the place of no more sorrow, not Earth. “Smiling doesn’t always mean you’re happy. The most beautiful Smile is the one that struggles through Tears.” [unknown] I hear at some funerals, "oh, they never complained or fussed about anything", well I know that won't be said of me. I know I don't smile as much as I used to, but that doesn't mean I don't have much to smile about because I do. I think God is smiling more about me now, because I know He is first in my life now and my choices reflect Him more and more.