Joy To The Word...And You Too!

This week I have been talking about the gift of joy. I began the week talking about the difference between happiness and joy. Happiness depends on what happens to us. Joy is a Divine dimension of living that is not influenced to by our circumstances but by the Spirit of God within us.

Happiness is a reaction to events. Rejoicing is a choice. Actually, it’s more than a choice, it is a command repeated twice in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Let me share a few choices we can make to help us rejoice. First of all, recognize God as joyful. Our joy will increase if we view God as a Creator with a smile on His face rather than a taskmaster. Listen to how God feels about you according to Zephaniah 3:17: “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” God delights in you and breaks out into song when He thinks about you! That’s hard to believe, isn’t it? I love how the Living Bible paraphrases this verse: “Is that a joyous choir I hear? No, it is the Lord himself exulting over you in happy song.” 


Another choice you can make is to become actively involved in sharing your faith.  Philemon 6 says: “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”  Luke 15 reminds us that heavenly rejoicing takes place when people who are spiritually lost discover Christ. When the lost sheep is recovered, verse 5 says that the owner “joyfully puts it on his shoulders” and then goes home and calls his friends and neighbors together and declares in verse 6, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents…” Jesus reminds us in John 4:36 that we can be filled with delight when we participate in the process of evangelism: “Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.” 


So as we wrap up our look at the gift of joy this week, let me just remind you of the words the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in Luke 2:10:" I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." This is a message of great joy for the entire world. But the angel also adds in verse 11: "Today...a Savior has been born to YOU...." This is also a personal message. Corrie Ten Boom once said, "If Jesus were born one thousand times in Bethlehem and not in me, then I would still be lost." While it is the season we proclaim joy to the world, it is also a season that we ultimately need to be reminded that a Savior is born to YOU!