I want you to think about what brings you joy in life. What makes you feel happy? What makes you feel like you have a purpose? What makes you feel at ease? It could be stages of life, activities, or people that you like to be around. With Christmas right around the corner, you might be thinking of family traditions, seeing loved ones, giving or getting awesome gifts, or just sleeping in (an impossible dream for a parent of two toddlers i.e. me).
These might be small things or they might be some of the most vivid memories that shape our lives. They help us identify what really matters, what we are truly passionate about. Across cultures joy is a foundational experience and every language (that I know of) has many words to describe it. We might talk about it as happiness, glee, elation, contentment or being cheerful. The Bible also has many words to describe joyfulness. And, just like English, each specific word has a slight emphasis or nuance that separates it from others depending on how it’s being used, but they all generally refer to the feeling of joy.
But that isn’t the complete story of life. The truth is that we live in a world scarred by selfishness and brokenness. Many of us have beautiful holiday memories, but we also have stories of pain, frustration and sadness. This is where the bible offers a unique view of joy. Instead of joy or contentment being a reaction to things going our way, the Bible authors view it as a mindset to adopt in any situation. This is because they don’t view joy as something that is tethered to happy circumstances, but instead to their expectation and hope in God’s promises and faithful love.
This is why the first thing God’s people do after being freed from Pharaoh’s oppression in Exodus 15 is sing and jump for joy. Even though the promised land was far away, they were in the middle of a desert, they had to flee their homes the night before, and they were vulnerable to attack, they chose to rejoice because they trusted God’s promises. It’s this trust and this event that later prophets reflected on when God’s people were in exile under the oppression of foreign empires. Isaiah writes of a time when God’s people would again be redeemed and return,
“They will enter Jerusalem singing,
crowned with everlasting
joy.
Sorrow and mourning will disappear,
and they will be filled with
joy
and
gladness.” Isa 51:11
Jeremiah writes that on that day God will “turn their mourning into
joy” He says, “I will comfort them and give them
gladness
for sorrow” (Jer 31:13). So even in their struggles, God’s people were able to choose joy because of their hope in God’s promises and love.
It’s this mindset of joy that came to define the early church communities even while being under persecution (Acts 13:52). But it’s important to note that this doesn’t mean you should deny the fact that bad things happen or stuff your feelings. In his letters to early church communities, Paul reflects not only on the good times but also the intense sorrow he feels from losing friends, loved ones, experiencing betrayal, and terrible persecution. He sums up this tension in one of his letters to the Corinthian churches as being “sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing; as poor yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet
possessing everything” (2 Cor 6:10). It’s a statement of faith, as he is real about his pain he has chosen to trust that Jesus' love and promises will not let his sorrow and pain have the last word.
So as you come to the “Happiest season of all” what attitude will you choose and why? As you think about this new year and all the uncertainty that it brings, what is going to guide your contentment? How can the promises of God change the way you interact with your family, your coworkers, your boss, or your brothers and sisters at church regardless of how they interact with you? How can you “rejoice in the Lord” in any circumstance (Phil 3:1)?
This is so much more than telling you to “view the glass as half full” or to “turn that frown upside down.” Christian joy is a mindset that we choose to adopt that trusts in the power of Jesus' resurrection and all of the promises of God. Christmas is the time that we celebrate that joy become human for all of us!
