Advent: JOY
When I was young, the joy of Christmas was based on the gifts I did or did not receive. Later on, I heard that “it is more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20:35).” Somewhere along the way, I discovered that whether I went above and beyond to generously give and find the perfect present, or received what I most wanted on Christmas day, joy was ultimately a choice.
Let me put it this way. Every year from the age of 11-15, my great aunt would send me the wrong size clothing for my birthday. Every year. At age 11, I weighed a total of 80 pounds and stood no taller than 5’5”. Yet, for some reason only known to my Kohl’s clearance rack shopping aunt, I was gifted with an XXL sweatshirt. The next year after reminding her of my size (medium), I received an extra small.
I don’t need to belabor the point here, but long story short, I had a choice before me: be upset in the wrong size or rejoice in the fact that somebody thought I was worth it to send a gift to.
In this season of Advent, we remember the coming of the greatest gift in Christ Jesus and the incredible offer of salvation through His life, death, and resurrection power. We also anticipate and look forward to the return of this most precious and powerful gift as He fulfills every promise and brings us into the fullness of His Presence.
Sometimes this looking back fits really well and other times it might be overwhelmingly large or too snug. The same can happen with our expectant looking forward to the arrival of Christ again. We might feel like an 11-year-old version of me that is looking at the gift before and thinking, “How will I ever fit into this XXL sweatshirt?”. We may ever look like the version of me a year later looking at this present and laughing because of how small it looks.
It’s often in seasons such as Advent that when we look at the gifts that have arrived and are still to come, that we also take a personal assessment. Maybe these gifts seem so large to us because we have not been taking in the right resources? Maybe these presents seem too snug in fit because we have been wearing other things we aren’t supposed to be carrying at all? Maybe the gifts of this season don’t look “right” to us because we have tried to fill their space with an imposter that feels “right.”
I guess what I’m getting at in this third week of Advent is that joy is not circumstantial as much as it is a gift, a choice, and a perspective.
Think about like this. John opens his letter to the early Christians by writing, ”That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete (1 John 1:1-4 NIV).” John is writing to this community about the things he had witnessed in following Jesus. He tells them about what he heard, saw with his eyes, touched with his hands, and is no proclaiming. But the greatest joy for John is in the hope of those reading his letter to share in the fellowship of the Lord with him.
In other words, the gift given to us is always about the gift we can extend to others as well. When we actively choose to receive and share this goodness, we participate in a perspective that goes beyond self-gratification and present circumstance. In this view, we might understand now why the gift looks too big or too small for us, because it might end up fitting others in their current season. Or, it may just be in our sharing this gift, that we grow and enlarge to fit it after all.
Or think about like this. Many will quote Psalm 37:4 as their key to fulfillment, especially in years like 2020. David wrote and sang, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” In short, I’ve heard folks equate this Psalm to a simple “if, then” statement. If I delight in God, then He will give me what I desire. So, if I delight in Jesus, I will win the lottery, the Vikings will win the Super Bowl, and I’ll somehow gain 25 pounds of muscle overnight… Not the point here.
What if my delight, or rejoicing, in the Lord was the truest desire of my heart? What if when I actively choose to rejoice in the fact that God rejoices in me I find that’s all I really wanted in the first place? What would my perspective be like? What would my actions look like? The Lord is our fullest joy, and when we delight in Him we find what our hearts most desire: Jesus.
As we continue forward in this Advent season, and especially in light of this week’s theme of joy, I would encourage us all to recognize the precious gift that’s been placed before us and the choice to recognize where we are at, where God is calling us, and how we can delight in Him no matter the season.
With all this said, I want to encourage you to engage in a daily practice this week. Every morning, list out 10 things you are grateful for. These can be material things, spiritual things, relationships, your job, animals, food, etc. Simply start your day in gratitude and watch what the Lord will do in your gift of thanksgiving. I would propose that joy will increase as you choose to engage with the One who delights in you.
Beloved, Joy has come and Joy is coming again. The choice is before us today to live in connection with Joy and allow the overflow of His delight to be the gift we share with others in this season. It may not look like it fits now, but as we trust and rejoice in the Lord, we will find it was never a question of fitting into what we wanted, but being clothed with what we needed.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Phil. 4:4)”
