The Heart Of Christmas Is Joy Series

In Discipleship Journal, Paul Thigpen wrote about an encounter with his daughter. “I remember coming home one afternoon to discover that the kitchen I had worked so hard to clean only a few hours before, was now a terrible wreck. My young daughter had obviously been busy ‘cooking’ and the ingredients were scattered, along with dirty bowls and utensils, across the counters and floor. I was not happy with the situation. Then, as I looked a little more closely at the mess I spied a tiny note on the table, clumsily written and smeared with chocolaty fingerprints. The message was short—‘I’m making something 4 you, dad’—and it was signed, ‘your angel.’ In the midst of that disarray (and mess), and despite my irritation, joy suddenly sprang up in my heart, sweet and pure. My attention had been redirected from the problem to the little girl I loved. As I encountered her in that brief note, I delighted in her. With her simple goodness in focus, I could take pleasure in seeing her hand at work in the situation that seemed otherwise disastrous.”

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The same is true for our joy in God. God is a work in our lives, even when we don’t see it. Many times life can look like a messy disaster from our perspective. It can be hard for us to find a reason for joy in our circumstances; however, if we look closely, we might see God coming near to us like he did that first Christmas night to let us know he is making something of our lives when we are tempted to feel hopeless.

"Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance." (James 1:2–3 LSB)

Joy is at the heart of Christmas because knowing that we could never make it to him, God came to us. The Greek word means inner gladness, a deep pleasure that comes from an inner assurance and confidence that God does all things for His good purposes. Joy is not gushed; joy is not jolliness. Joy is just perfect acquiescence in God's will because the soul delights itself in God Himself. Christianity is the only religion in the world where the deity does what is necessary to unite humanity. Paul emphatically makes this statement in the book of Romans as he insists we can be saved through Jesus.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)

Simply stated, the Christian faith reminds us that our fundamental problem is not moral, but rather spiritual. It is not just that we are immoral, but that a moral life alone cannot bridge what separates us from God. Herein lies the cardinal difference between religion and what Jesus offers to man. Jesus does not offer to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive. Thus, Christianity answers the questions every man desires to answer: Who is God? Why am I here? What is my purpose? What will happen when I die?

"O taste and see that Yahweh is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!" (Psalm 34:8 LSB)