Joy - Day 5
1 Thes 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
As I've been thinking about joy this week, I’ve been reading all the New Testament verses that mention it. There are a lot of them. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Every time I turn around, there is another statement of joy. Jesus was called a “man of sorrows,” but he, too, was marked with joy.
The one pattern I noticed most was how joy almost always seems to break out when two or more believers meet. Paul, especially, is filled with joy as he meets, thinks about, and remembers his friends and partners in ministry. Joy is unlocked in our hearts by the presence of those we love. We all know that, of course, but I sometimes need reminding. I am an introvert. I am almost always content to be by myself. The things that I like to do are more often solitary pursuits. I have to remind myself at times to seek out other humans to connect with. For me, this realization is important.
One of the things that makes the holidays bittersweet is the presence of family. Some of your family members are your favorite people, and some are more challenging to care for. Try to be present to them all this week. If at all possible, let go of all the reasons you have to be resentful or angry and find something in them to enjoy. Be the grown-up in the room. Jesus will help you. Maybe there is joy to be found where you least expected it.
On a final note. This is my last Advent reflection for this year. It has been a joy for me writing these. I hope and pray they have been helpful to you in some way.
May the LORD bless you and Keep you
May the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you
May the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you Shalom
Amen
As I've been thinking about joy this week, I’ve been reading all the New Testament verses that mention it. There are a lot of them. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Every time I turn around, there is another statement of joy. Jesus was called a “man of sorrows,” but he, too, was marked with joy.
The one pattern I noticed most was how joy almost always seems to break out when two or more believers meet. Paul, especially, is filled with joy as he meets, thinks about, and remembers his friends and partners in ministry. Joy is unlocked in our hearts by the presence of those we love. We all know that, of course, but I sometimes need reminding. I am an introvert. I am almost always content to be by myself. The things that I like to do are more often solitary pursuits. I have to remind myself at times to seek out other humans to connect with. For me, this realization is important.
One of the things that makes the holidays bittersweet is the presence of family. Some of your family members are your favorite people, and some are more challenging to care for. Try to be present to them all this week. If at all possible, let go of all the reasons you have to be resentful or angry and find something in them to enjoy. Be the grown-up in the room. Jesus will help you. Maybe there is joy to be found where you least expected it.
On a final note. This is my last Advent reflection for this year. It has been a joy for me writing these. I hope and pray they have been helpful to you in some way.
May the LORD bless you and Keep you
May the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you
May the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you Shalom
Amen
Joy - Day 4
James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
For a long time, I felt like an enemy of my own heart.
I have been pretty open over the last few years about my ongoing struggle with anxiety and depression. Back in 2019, I began experiencing emotions I could not explain or control. It felt like my "feeler" had gone rogue. I began to resent my own emotions deeply. I started to see my emotional life as warfare. It was ME against my emotions.
This emotional war took up a large amount of my energy, leaving only scraps for my family and for my church. I began to withdraw from life. I would ignore problems until I had no choice but to deal with them. I ran from conversations that might get uncomfortable. I hid myself in tasks and topics that posed no emotional threat. This emotional hide-and-seek became my life, and it was no life. I was numb a lot of the time. "Joy? What is that?" Verses like James 1:2 felt like mocking, useless, ignorant statements that didn't understand what I was going through. That is, until I took them seriously.
I realized that in this verse, James isn't ignoring pain, nor is he patronizing those who feel it. He is inviting us to think differently about it. "Consider it" he says. I heard someone say it beautifully the other day. "The thing you flea from will pursue you, but that which you turn and face, you will eventually overcome." James is not telling us to suck it up and move on. His encouragement is to engage with the pain of the moment for the sake of the joy on the other side. Just as Jesus endured the cross, "for the joy set before him". So must we. My heart was never my enemy. My numbness was.
Psalm 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Joy - Day 3
For a long time, I felt like an enemy of my own heart.
I have been pretty open over the last few years about my ongoing struggle with anxiety and depression. Back in 2019, I began experiencing emotions I could not explain or control. It felt like my "feeler" had gone rogue. I began to resent my own emotions deeply. I started to see my emotional life as warfare. It was ME against my emotions.
This emotional war took up a large amount of my energy, leaving only scraps for my family and for my church. I began to withdraw from life. I would ignore problems until I had no choice but to deal with them. I ran from conversations that might get uncomfortable. I hid myself in tasks and topics that posed no emotional threat. This emotional hide-and-seek became my life, and it was no life. I was numb a lot of the time. "Joy? What is that?" Verses like James 1:2 felt like mocking, useless, ignorant statements that didn't understand what I was going through. That is, until I took them seriously.
I realized that in this verse, James isn't ignoring pain, nor is he patronizing those who feel it. He is inviting us to think differently about it. "Consider it" he says. I heard someone say it beautifully the other day. "The thing you flea from will pursue you, but that which you turn and face, you will eventually overcome." James is not telling us to suck it up and move on. His encouragement is to engage with the pain of the moment for the sake of the joy on the other side. Just as Jesus endured the cross, "for the joy set before him". So must we. My heart was never my enemy. My numbness was.
Psalm 30:5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
Joy - Day 3
The Joy of Advent - Day 3
**Nehemiah 8:10** Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
I have always heard the last few words of this text quoted as an exhortation or part of a song, "the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Today I decided to read it in context, and wow, there is a lot to think about.
The verse is from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the man God commissioned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. It was a huge job, but the people worked together, and God was with them, so the wall went up. After the wall was up, they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law and read it. As he read, the people wept instead of cheering. They were gripped by conviction, realizing how far they had wandered and how deep the gap was between their covenant and their reality.
That is the context of this verse.
Have you ever felt this way? Comparing your goals, dreams, and values to your reality and wanting to weep, maybe even give up?
But in the story Nehemiah interrupted their mourning. He told them this was not a day for regret, but for celebration. They were returning to God, and the joy in His heart would be the strength to carry them forward. I say the same to you: Do not grieve! Step back into partnership with God. He will meet you there and His joy WILL be your strength.
John 15:11 - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
**Nehemiah 8:10** Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
I have always heard the last few words of this text quoted as an exhortation or part of a song, "the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Today I decided to read it in context, and wow, there is a lot to think about.
The verse is from the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was the man God commissioned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem after 70 years of exile. It was a huge job, but the people worked together, and God was with them, so the wall went up. After the wall was up, they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the book of the law and read it. As he read, the people wept instead of cheering. They were gripped by conviction, realizing how far they had wandered and how deep the gap was between their covenant and their reality.
That is the context of this verse.
Have you ever felt this way? Comparing your goals, dreams, and values to your reality and wanting to weep, maybe even give up?
But in the story Nehemiah interrupted their mourning. He told them this was not a day for regret, but for celebration. They were returning to God, and the joy in His heart would be the strength to carry them forward. I say the same to you: Do not grieve! Step back into partnership with God. He will meet you there and His joy WILL be your strength.
John 15:11 - I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
Joy - Day 2
Luke 1:46 And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,”
Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness is an emotional reaction to circumstance - you are happy or unhappy because of what happened. Joy is different. Joy is a state of mind, a practice that is cultivated over time. Joy comes from choosing, regardless of circumstance, to see and believe in the good. That is not always easy to do.
In our story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, there were plenty of “happenings” that could have ruined her happiness, but she chose joy. She lived in a society under the oppressive rulership of Rome. She was a young, unmarried woman in a culture that likely would not believe the true story of how she came to be with child. Her parents and family could have put her to shame and sent her away. Her betrothal to Joseph was at risk for the same reason.
Mary had real reasons to be unhappy and even afraid, but in our text we find her filled with joy. She had heard a word from God. She knew that no matter what might unfold in the short term the end of her story was glorious. So she chose joy.
You, too, are living with a promise. Jesus came to Mary; He has also come to us. Trust that his work in you is leading you to true and lasting joy. No matter what happens today, his work is not done.
Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joy - Day 1
Luke 1:46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,"
There are two types of joy-the joy of desires fulfilled and the joy that sustains us until they are fulfilled.
The joy of Advent is the second kind of joy. It is the joy of Mary when she sings the Magnificat. In Luke chapter one, the Angel Gabriel is busy. He announces the coming of John the Baptist to John's father Zechariah, and then, only a few months later, announces the advent of Jesus to Mary, Jesus' mother. He tells Mary to go and visit her cousin Elizabeth (wife of Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist) and see that she who was barren is now in the sixth month of pregnancy. So Mary goes. When she arrives, Elizabeth hears Mary's voice and prophesies about the baby in Mary's womb! The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy, and Mary herself is filled with joy and begins to sing a prophetic song we call the Magnificat, which means "to magnify" in Latin. Mary's first words in the song are "My soul magnifies the Lord".
Had Jesus arrived? No. Had Jesus done anything at all to show us who he was or all that he would do? No. This was not the joy of arrival or accomplishment. This was the joy of Advent. This joy is the joy of promises believed. Mary and Elizabeth were enabled to think differently about the future than they ever had before, and it filled them with joy.
What does Jesus mean for your future?
Have you gazed into the future with Jesus as your telescope?
Spend at least five minutes today leaning into the joy of Advent. Ask Jesus to help you imagine a future shaped by his presence, his promises, and his power.
Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness is an emotional reaction to circumstance - you are happy or unhappy because of what happened. Joy is different. Joy is a state of mind, a practice that is cultivated over time. Joy comes from choosing, regardless of circumstance, to see and believe in the good. That is not always easy to do.
In our story of Mary, the mother of Jesus, there were plenty of “happenings” that could have ruined her happiness, but she chose joy. She lived in a society under the oppressive rulership of Rome. She was a young, unmarried woman in a culture that likely would not believe the true story of how she came to be with child. Her parents and family could have put her to shame and sent her away. Her betrothal to Joseph was at risk for the same reason.
Mary had real reasons to be unhappy and even afraid, but in our text we find her filled with joy. She had heard a word from God. She knew that no matter what might unfold in the short term the end of her story was glorious. So she chose joy.
You, too, are living with a promise. Jesus came to Mary; He has also come to us. Trust that his work in you is leading you to true and lasting joy. No matter what happens today, his work is not done.
Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joy - Day 1
Luke 1:46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,"
There are two types of joy-the joy of desires fulfilled and the joy that sustains us until they are fulfilled.
The joy of Advent is the second kind of joy. It is the joy of Mary when she sings the Magnificat. In Luke chapter one, the Angel Gabriel is busy. He announces the coming of John the Baptist to John's father Zechariah, and then, only a few months later, announces the advent of Jesus to Mary, Jesus' mother. He tells Mary to go and visit her cousin Elizabeth (wife of Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist) and see that she who was barren is now in the sixth month of pregnancy. So Mary goes. When she arrives, Elizabeth hears Mary's voice and prophesies about the baby in Mary's womb! The baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy, and Mary herself is filled with joy and begins to sing a prophetic song we call the Magnificat, which means "to magnify" in Latin. Mary's first words in the song are "My soul magnifies the Lord".
Had Jesus arrived? No. Had Jesus done anything at all to show us who he was or all that he would do? No. This was not the joy of arrival or accomplishment. This was the joy of Advent. This joy is the joy of promises believed. Mary and Elizabeth were enabled to think differently about the future than they ever had before, and it filled them with joy.
What does Jesus mean for your future?
Have you gazed into the future with Jesus as your telescope?
Spend at least five minutes today leaning into the joy of Advent. Ask Jesus to help you imagine a future shaped by his presence, his promises, and his power.