“Oh Joy! I’m sick, ugh.” On Monday afternoon of this week I felt it coming on. The dreaded cold of the season. Within the hour, I cancelled Life Group and headed off to bed. Of course, this would be the week to bring the Advent message of joy!:) But when I think about it, it’s actually the perfect time to reflect deeply on what joy really means as we live life with God.
If we get circumstantial “happiness” confused with God given joy then we may become disillusioned or worse shame others who are going through trials and difficulties with sentiments like where’s your positive attitude, where’s your joy? That can be toxic.
My mentor, Dallas Willard, says it like this, Joy is not pleasure, a mere sensation, but a pervasive and constant sense of well-being. Hope in the goodness of God is joy's indispensable support…Jesus taught us to abide in God’s love “that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full” (John 15: 10 – 11, NASB).
Our joy is full when there is no room for more. Abiding in God’s love provides the unshakable source of joy, which is in turn the source of peace. All is based in the reality of God’s grace and goodness.
Faith, hope, love, joy, and peace—the “magnificent five” — are inseparable from one another and reciprocally support each other. Try to imagine any one without the others!
In pointing believers, then and now, to our source of joy, Paul writes to the Christ followers in Rome about the promise to the patriarchs being fulfilled bringing both the Jew and Gentiles to the greatest unity ever known under King Jesus. So deeply was the Holy Spirit moving him as he spoke these words he breaks open into a benediction prayer, May the God of hope fill you with all JOY and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13-14).
So what does this look like in everyday life? Abiding is simply focusing our minds on God in all the ways we can intentionally do so and allowing his love to invade every part of us. We need more of the Word of God! Memorizing scripture is not a popular notion in our culture today yet for centuries God’s people “hid” God’s word in their hearts as the means of knowing God and growing in their faith which in turn infused them with hope.
It is a discipline that has the potential to change the world (especially with the reading crisis in our culture today). Seems we may be back in the dark ages when the stories of Jesus are shared around the table, through art and images, the word preached and hymns sung that taught the basic Christian theology.
Joy is not an emotion we experience because life is going our way. Joy is what happens in our soul as we keep turning our hearts to the hope that is within us. Joy has been placed within us by a king whose reign never ends, who is coming again to bring a forever shalom.
Joy is witnessing a man after God’s own heart, running for his life in the wilderness, trying to survive, hungry and destitute write a song and worship as he encourages us, May all who search for you be filled with JOY and gladness in you. May those who love your salvation repeatedly shout, “God is great!”
Each week of Advent builds on the next and keeps inviting us to follow our Great God! As a gift that I pass on to you, savor this prayer from Sarah Clarkson’s book, Reclaiming Quiet.
O God, who does not fail though all the world be tumbling, help us to hold you fast. From the whirlwind of our fear, draw us into the shelter of your peace. Help us to root our hearts in a world and hope much larger than the tempests of the present time, to anchor our minds in the love that began us and will once more see us whole. Help us to find the disciplines of hope so that joy is a thing we can tastle like an apple and peace can be a candle we may light in the night. Let quiet lead us daily into trust, through the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen. Sarah Clarkson
Joy filled with you,
Pastor T
A Special Note: During tomorrow’s service you will get to hear a joy filled story from one of the courageous among us. Through dark times and challenges, God has brought her hope, peace, joy and love through a growing relationship of faith and finding the encouragement, healing and support she needed at Eden Church. Her life is a testament of finding our source of joy in and through Jesus Christ.
Reflect: One way we experience joy is by helping others. We are often the answer to someone’s prayer for hope, peace, joy and love. Think about the last couple of weeks. Where did you find God giving you the opportunities to experience this kind of joy? Where may he be guiding you to help bring hope, peace, joy and love to another?
Spiritual Practice:
Try memorizing a scripture or passage that focuses on this kind of joy. Psalm 63 is a good place to start! Writing it several times and memorizing a few words at a time can help. Invite your kids, grandkids or those you minister to by giving them a card with a scripture and practice memorizing together.
Gather: Share the journaling you have done in the advent devotional with your small group. If joy is an active practice we can cultivate, not just a happy emotion we get to feel when everything is going great, what are some ways we can practice joy? Discuss how the “discipline of hope” leads to joy.
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