What we wish the world was today, is what God created the world to be in the beginning and what we believe he will remake into at the end. Here in the middle, we find that the world is more often complicated, confusing, broken, and damaged than it is happy or joyful.
HOPE is the confident expectation that God isn’t done with me.
PEACE is the calm and quiet of a heart that has been swept clean from fear and anxiety by that Hope.
JOY is the attitude we adopt on the journey from here to there.
Joy is not a condition of our present circumstances but an expectation of our future destination.
[Isaiah 51:11]
“Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return. They will enter Jerusalem singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be filled with joy and gladness.”
Poet James Allen Francis: “He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30. Then, for three years, he was an itinerant preacher. “He never wrote a book. He never held political office. He never had a family or owned a home. He didn’t go to college, never lived in a big city, and never traveled more than 200 miles from where he was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself.“ He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between criminals. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he owned on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed to him, through the pity of a friend.“20 centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliament‘s that ever sat, all the kings that ever rained, put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as this one, solitary person.”
[Luke 2:8-11]
“8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”
JESUS BRINGS JOY TO ANYONE
[John 16:22-24]
“22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. 23 At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. 24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”
[Psalm 126:1-6]
“ One when the Lord brought back his exiles to Jerusalem, it was like a dream! 2 We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy. And the nations said, ‘What amazing things the Lord has done for them.’ 3 Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy! 4 Restore our fortunes, Lord, as strange renew the desert. 5 Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. 6 They weep as they go to plant the seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.”
[Psalm 30:5]
“… Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.”
THOSE WHO FIND JOY SHARE IT WITH EVERYONE
[Luke 2:15-19]
“15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,”
[1 Corinthians 1:26-28]
“26 remembered your brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise and the worlds eyes are powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and use them to bring to nothing but the world considers important.”
Joy may not change the circumstances of our lives but it DEFINITELY changes the quality of our lives!!!
The choice to be full of Joy goes way beyond the silly advice to “turn that frown upside down”. It is the choice to place our hope in a loving God who brings peace in chaos, who will one day right all wrongs and settle all scores, bringing justice to the oppressed and healing to the broken.
[1 Peter 1:8-9]
“8 You love him even though you have never seen him. That you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him I’ll be the salvation of your souls.”