An
Advent of Joy!
“But
the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of
great joy which will be for all the people;’”
Luke
2:10
“Rejoice
always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will
for you in Christ Jesus.”
1
Thessalonians 5:16-18
One
of the great gifts of Advent is the gift of joy found in Christ Jesus! Just as with
many we find joy when we see an infant child. We also find that same joy in Christ. Sunday was a joyful time for us all as we watched
the children’s program. Children more
than any other love the Christmas season!
They don’t worry about all the proofs of Christ and the message He
brought. They simply believe it and find
joy in knowing that Jesus loves them.
Seeing their joy Sunday morning brought us joy as we watched them celebrate
Christ who should be our source of joy.
The
shepherds, the night of Christ’s birth, were watching the sheep when an Angel
from the Lord came and announced the birth of Christ. A heavenly host sang of this great joy that
had come to all men, stirring in the shepherds a desire to see this great
Savior. When they found the child just
as the angel had told them, their excitement and joy went even higher. They became the first evangelists if you will,
proclaiming what the angels had told them.
They even went back to the sheep rejoicing by praising God and glorifying
Him!
Finding
joy can be hard for many of us at times in life. Sometimes life can really be hard. Yet it is God’s will that we be joyful. That joy when life is tough, can be hard to
find, yet we need not look anywhere but to Christ who was born in very humbling
circumstances for us. Sometimes when
life has been hard the only joy I have is found in knowing that Jesus loves me
and that in the end the Jesus will be glorified. God is in control and when I just rest in Him
there I do find joy!
Kids
can find joy in places that we don’t often find it. Even in the hardest of times you can find
them playing with their toys and laughing and having fun. Growing up we didn’t have a lot and times
were hard, yet to watch us kids you would have never known it. We would just go outside to play and have fun
each day. We knew we didn’t have all
that the other kids had but we still had so much fun and found such joy in what
we did have. We just blindly trusted our
parents, teachers, society, God, etc. to always take care of us. There was great peace and joy in not having to
worry about the world around us. Sometimes
I find myself missing those days and, yet I find I don’t have to. I can choose to have that same kind of childlike
faith by just letting go and letting God take care of me. When you do that you
find joy and peace.
As
we think of the first advent of Christ, His second coming can bring us great
joy too. We sometimes only think about
the judgement of those who don’t know Christ and we miss the joyful part of
being with Jesus! Jesus will win the victory! Eternal life will be ours in a place free of
pain and suffering. Are we proclaiming the Good news of Christ this Christmas? The best gift we could ever give someone is the
joy that is found in the Christ child that will lead them someday to a life
free of pain and suffering! The joy that
is found in knowing that God is in control and loves us! That is the perfect gift this Christmas!
All Scripture is from New American Standard Bible, copy-write 1995, by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA
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