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!     

Counting My Blessings!

In just three days, Americans will celebrate another Thanksgiving Day.  Most of the people celebrating will be focused on the food they are consuming or the shopping they will be doing (now on Thanksgiving Day, not just the day after!).  Some will be focused on the blessings of family and holiday togetherness.  Fewer still (even few Christians) will actually take the time to focus on the blessing of having a relationship with the sovereign God of the universe.

I want to be one of the people in the last group.  I want to separate myself from the trappings and warm, fuzzy feeling of the holiday and really send my thanksgiving in the right direction for the right things.  Don’t get me wrong . . . it is a blessing to be part of a loving family and to have the privilege of enjoying good food together.  Not everyone has that on this day, and I don’t ever want to take those things for granted. 

But when I decide to count my blessings, I need to be able to see beyond the here and now and desire something more than earthly warm fuzzies.  As Christians, the blessings and benefits we seek should be different than those that other people want to achieve.  To be blessed by God means to have a distinctive spiritual joy and ultimate well-being that only comes from relationship with him.  It is the state of being spiritually prosperous, an inner condition that should affect our outward behavior and approach to life.  And while we tend to think of blessings as things that we get to enjoy right now, God’s blessings often involve future generations and also stretch into eternity.  God’s ability to bless us in an eternal way far exceeds our limited expectations for him to bless us in the here and now.

The Bible tells us that we all have the complete package of benefits connected with knowing God: we have been chosen, adopted, and forgiven, and have spiritual insight, spiritual gifts, the power to do God’s will, and a future hope.  “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

Regardless of how many earthly blessings are present or lacking in my life, focusing my attention in the right direction should produce a grateful heart and a different perspective on how my life is truly blessed in all the ways that really matter.  This Thanksgiving, I want to focus on the blessings that are eternal and spend more time being thankful for those than the blessings that are temporary.  It’s not wrong to be thankful for earthly blessings, but will you choose to join me in counting all your blessings?  

Time to Dig In!

I just finished spending a weekend leading worship at our church’s annual women’s retreat.  It was a great time of fellowship with my Christian sisters and focusing on God and his desire for relationship with me.  The theme was “Run After Righteousness”, and the speaker’s thoughts were based on Hebrews 12. 

A recurring thread in what the speaker had to say was the importance of spending as much time as possible in God’s Word, which is something that I have believed for a long time.  It reminded me that only God’s Word will stand forever (Isaiah 40:8).  I’ve read many outstanding books that have had a profound effect on my life.  But, the truth is this: everything written by man will lose its ability to influence and will fade away; but God’s Word will never grow old or become useless.  It is applicable to every generation because it is God’s complete written revelation of truth – eternal and unchanging.

The importance of this comes to light when we try to “run after righteousness” – to persevere in our walk of faith and complete the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1).  God’s Word is entirely authoritative for our life of faith.  It is our standard for testing everything else, our safeguard against false teaching, and our source of guidance.  The Bible penetrates a person’s innermost being, revealing who we are and what we are not, cutting through to the core of our moral and spiritual life (Hebrews 4:12). 

I can read a book written by a human and then toss it aside if I want to.  But God’s Word is active in accomplishing God’s purposes and requires us to make decisions.  That’s why it is something that I should always make a priority in my life.  In Isaiah 55:10-11, God tells us that his words never return empty without achieving the purpose that he wants:

“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish . . . so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Isn’t it encouraging to know that absolutely everything God ever says, from before time began and for all of eternity (and everything in between), has meaning, purpose, and success built into it?  Those are the types of words I can rest my very life on and trust to guide and sustain me.  Time to dig in!

Time Marches On

I’m having a hard time believing that November is already here!  October seemed to fly by at our house, and now a new month is starting.  Fall has always been my favorite time of year, but it’s going by too fast this year.  In no time, it will be Christmas and a new year! 

It’s hard for me to imagine time from God’s perspective, where “A day is like a thousand years . . . and a thousand years is like a day” (Psalm 90:4).  God does not view time as humans do, and he is completely unrestricted by time.  In fact, our entire lifetime is just a moment to him. 

Sometimes God’s perspective on time can be frustrating to us, like when we’re praying about something and it seems like we have to wait forever for his answer.  But I’m thankful that God can be trusted beyond what we can see at any given moment and that we can depend on him because he is eternal.  We constantly feel like time is getting away from us, but God resides outside of time and can be trusted to act when he is ready and do what needs to be done – which might not necessarily be what we would like him to do. 

Since our hearts were created for eternity (Ecclesiastes 3:11), maybe we should try to remind our bodies and minds that we’re not supposed to be completely satisfied with life here on earth because we were created for something different.  This world is not my home!  So, no matter how fast time seems to be whizzing by, I can focus on eternal things and stop trying to fit God into my time constraints.  I can start applying God-principles to my life here on earth instead of trying to apply human principles to God. 

Today I can relate to what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:18: “. . . the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”  October and November will soon be gone, but eternity will last forever.  God is much more interested in growing my character and preparing me for eternity than in making sure I get the most (from a human perspective) out of my time here on earth. 

There’s always enough time in each day and each season to focus on God and spend time preparing for eternity.  Just saying . . .

Birthday Celebrations

This is a week of celebrations at my house.  Yesterday my husband and I celebrated the 36^th anniversary of our first date!  And today one of my sons is celebrating a birthday.  I like to celebrate these kinds of milestones – to make sure that we remember the past and how it contributes to where we are today.

But my son isn’t celebrating the day of his physical birth today.  He’s celebrating the day 20 years ago when he chose to accept Christ’s sacrifice for his sins and decided to become a Christ-follower.  He’s celebrating his spiritual birthday! 

Sometimes parents make a HUGE deal out of their children’s birthdays – complete with lots of presents, food, decorations, games, friends, family, etc.  I had a lot a fun when my sons were still children planning and executing their birthday parties.  My husband and I made a big deal out of their birthdays because we downplayed Christmas giving and wanted their birthdays to be extra-special.  But most people don’t even know the date when either they or their children became Christians.  Why is that?

I’m not sure why, but maybe this is a product of our focus on earthly things instead of heavenly things.  Why don’t we throw parties every year to celebrate our spiritual birthdays?  Could it be that we really don’t understand how important our second birth is?  If our spiritual birthdays represent true repentance and life-change, then they are the most important day we could celebrate each year.  More important than original birthdays, more important than Christ’s birthday, and more important than any anniversaries – because they are celebrations that mark eternal changes.  Spiritual birthdays mark a moment in the past that changed who we are today: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

So let’s start celebrating!  Parents, make sure your children know the date of the day their eternal, life-changing birthday occurred.  Celebrate that day each year – in whatever way you feel is appropriate.  (My husband and I always gave our boys a card that acknowledged their spiritual growth in the past year and a present that encouraged further growth.)  And don’t stop when they grow up.  My sons no longer live in my home; but every year they still get an email or a text that shows them how important their spiritual birthday is to us and God.  Along with our “first-date” anniversary, these are days that are always transferred over each year to my new calendar – milestones of progress that should never be forgotten.  Will you join me in focusing our attention on the birthday that really matters?