How's Your Christmas Joy?

We are deep into another Christmas season, and the question begs to be asked: how’s your Christmas joy?  Is joy the first word that comes to your mind when you think about Christmas?  Or do other words – mostly ones that shouldn’t be repeated – better describe your thoughts about this season?  Who decided that joy and Christmas should go hand in hand?

Actually, it wasn’t some smiling, always positive person who came up with the idea so we would sing more carols, buy more gifts, or bake more cookies in order to be joyful.  The idea came from God.  That’s because the real reason for joy at Christmas is summed up in another word: Immanuel.  The reason we can and should be joyful during this season (and all year ‘round!) is because God is with us. 

In Philippians, right after the apostle Paul tells us to rejoice all the time, he tells us why: “The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5).  Apparently joy has nothing to do with us or our circumstances or anything earthly; joy has everything to do with God.  Joy is possible in every situation (always, as Paul puts it) because God is always with us.  The gift we received when Jesus became human on that first Christmas, and the gift that we celebrate every Christmas, is the gift of God with us – always present, always available – in our past before we knew it, in our present regardless of what we’re doing, and in our future before we get there.

In John 14, Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit would be coming to them (and us) after he returned to heaven.  This presence of God is called Paracletos in Greek, which is “one called alongside to help”.  He is also described in other Scriptures as a comforter, encourager, counselor, and advocate (a word which combines both comfort and counsel).  Isn’t this exactly what we want from those around us?  Wouldn’t we be more joyful if someone would do these things for us on a regular basis?  This is the Christmas gift that we have been given – so joy shouldn’t be all that hard to come by.

But properly based joy – joy that comes from the presence of God with us – doesn’t look the same as happiness.  The best way I can describe it is like this: happiness is on the surface, but joy is deep within us.  That’s because happiness is based on surface things, but joy is based on God’s presence in us.  I’m not always happy, but I should be able to always rejoice.  When Paul tells us to rejoice all the time, he wants us to learn how to focus on God and allow the joy that is inside us to reach the surface where others can see it.  This will result in all of our emotions and feelings being informed and influenced by the lasting joy that we already have because God is with us. 

Joy doesn’t come and go, because God doesn’t come and go.  As long as God is with us (forever!), joy is also with us.  This Christmas, let’s allow everything else that we think brings us joy to take a back seat to the real source of joy by celebrating “God with us”.  Let’s not forget that, more than 2,000 years later, the Lord is still near.  Have a joy-filled Christmas!         

Christmas Contentment

Is it possible to exhibit contentment during the Christmas season?  If you go to a store where people are Christmas shopping, it doesn’t look like it!  Everyone seems to be interested in buying as many things as they can – usually a sure sign that contentment is lacking.  But the issue with contentment isn’t about how much or how little anyone buys or has; it’s about the attitude of the heart.  That’s because contentment or lack of contentment isn’t about external things, but internal things. 

You see, contentment isn’t about being satisfied with the gift; it’s about being satisfied with the Giver.  I’ve always been a fairly contented person, but I am encouraged by what the apostle Paul says in Philippians 4: contentment isn’t natural – it has to be learned.  Here’s what verses 12 and 13 say:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

Paul knew all about many different life situations, and they didn’t all naturally lead to contentment!  Most of us in first world countries will never experience the types of things that Paul experienced; yet we seem to struggle more with contentment than he did.  Why is that?  Paul says here that he had learned the secret of contentment – and it was focusing on “him who gives me strength” instead of “any and every situation”.  For Paul, knowing Christ was everything.  With this perspective, all of his needs were satisfied and contentment was possible.  To paraphrase from a famous movie, maybe our focus needs more focus in the right direction.

Paul tells us that contentment isn’t natural, and he tells us the secret of how to get there.  In his first letter to Timothy, he hints at the same secret: “. . . godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).  Contentment isn’t natural in our humanness, but it is a natural by-product of godliness – of walking closer and closer to God and trusting him and him alone to give us what we actually need to be content.    

As we continue through this Christmas season, let’s agree to work hard at being content.  All it takes is trusting God more and trusting ourselves and the world around us less.  I want to be different than most of the people I encounter while Christmas shopping – on the inside where it counts.  Contentment can be contagious, so let’s spread some around!     

Decorations

This past weekend, Christmas started to appear in my neighborhood and at my house.  Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love the decorations, especially the lights; they give me a warm, cozy feeling inside.  I never get tired of the lights.  But is it wrong for a Christian to love the decorations of Christmas?  I know that my focus needs to be on the gift of Emmanuel, God With Us; but is this an “either-or” situation, or can we truly have both?

I am encouraged to remember that the Old Testament is full of stories where God told his people to decorate.  It appears that God also loves decorations!  When God gave David the plans for the temple that Solomon would eventually build, no amount of “decoration” was spared – gold, silver, and many precious stones were to be used.  God expected that the temple built for worshiping him would represent the best of all of the people’s possessions and talents.  But here’s the catch:  the temple’s purpose, with all of its decorations, was to bring attention to God – not to the decorations themselves.  So this is my point of reference for my Christmas decorations: do they help me focus on the gift and the giver and not just the decorations themselves?

When I look at the New Testament, something else catches my attention.  The idea behind decorations shows up in several passages that talk about what types of things Christians should be “putting on” or “clothing” ourselves with.  The apostle Paul was especially fond of this language.  In Romans 13:14 and Galatians 3:27, he tells us to clothe ourselves with Jesus Christ; and Ephesians 6:11 reminds us to prepare ourselves for spiritual battles by putting on the full armor of God.  These are decorations that we need to make sure are in place daily.

But another passage points out several other “decorations” that need to be evident in my life:

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”  (Colossians 3:12-14)

Decorating my life with these things is a lifelong, step-by-step process.  Sometimes I’m almost fully “clothed”, and other times I struggle.  Fortunately, it’s not all up to me.  The fruit of decorating myself with Jesus Christ and his armor (truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, and God’s Word) is the type of decoration mentioned in this Colossians passage – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).  When I clothe myself with Christ, the fruit of the Spirit is a natural by-product.  For that I am truly grateful, because decorating can be hard work all by yourself.

As I continue decorating my home for Christmas today, I want to be decorating myself with Jesus Christ – Emmanuel – and focusing on him.  And every day I want to put on the right spiritual clothes and decorations to help me focus even more on what really matters.  Welcome to December, and happy decorating!