Third Sunday of Advent brings Joy!!! JOY? Great pleasure, jubilation, exultation, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, to name a few. Joy is the expression, like that winning touchdown that makes us jump up and shout? For some reason it seems difficult to find Joy like that in a church setting! But Joy isn’t a mere “feeling” every minute of every day. Sometimes Joy is just that deep sense of comfort that Your life as a child of God is destined for much more than what this world offers; that God is watching over you, even during those times of great duress, pain, or heart ache. Like water baptism is the outward expression of your changed heart, Joy is the heart’s reaction in response to receiving that Spiritual Gift. Why? Because it shows the world who I am. Expressing Joy to someone who feels hopeless is the sharing of your experience in Christ to show others there is Hope and Peace, Love and Joy to be had. For a child of God, that sometimes comes even in our pain, but that’s how God uses us as vessels of His Spirit!! Matthew 6 records Jesus telling the disciples to Rejoice in the day, and “LEAP for Joy when you are persecuted and insulted because of the Son of Man”. Why? Because when hearts are convicted to the point of aggression, the seeds of change have been planted. Luke records in Acts 16, Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison for preaching. In the middle of the night they were singing praises to God and a great earthquake broke the walls holding the prisoner’s chains and opened all the cell doors. The jailor awoke and drew his sword to kill himself, for he thought all the prisoners had escaped under his watch. Paul and Silas called for him to stop because they were all there. The jailor was so grateful he took Paul and Silas to his home, fed them and cleaned their wounds. Asking about salvation, the jailor and his family were saved, and the whole household was baptized. “The jailor was filled with Joy because he came to believe in God”. How many of us would sing Praises to God after being beaten and thrown into prison for our faith?? Jesus’ directive to rejoice in our persecution is what saved a whole family. The gospels record the shepherds being afraid at the presence of the angel announcing to them Jesus was born. Shepherds weren’t supposed to see angels. They were the outcast of the social circles. No one offered them good news, but God gave it to them first. You see how God works in our pain, our fear, our hopelessness? All believers have examples of how God works in the trials of this world. Because it’s something we all need, God offers Hope and Peace, and Joy for us all, and through the Living Out our faith are others brought to the fold of God. So, do you have this kind of Joy, or do you still wonder “why do things always happen to me”? Why does it seem the ones who should have the most Joy struggle with it the most? It’s not that we’re supposed to live life like there’s no heartache in the world, but it sure makes a difference when we live to express openly the rewards in this life and for the life yet to come. If you struggle with feeling Joy, then you’re certainly not alone. This world is full of good folks who feel beaten by this world. Don’t give up! Look for everything your heart needs to lift you up and engulf you into the fullness of God. You should find it in a church near you, give me a call, or drop a note here. There truly is Joy To The World! Sometimes we just need to know where to find it †
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 20:58:09 +0000