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!