It’s easier to grumble than to be glad. It’s more convenient to complain than to be cheerful. It seems therapeutic to stay depressed rather than see today or tomorrow with delight. It’s a bad habit to follow fear into worse habits and sins, rather than following faith.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Jesus didn’t live this way. Sure, he is God, but he had choices to make, troubles and temptations to endure, and difficult problems. People disappointed him all the time (and still do). The reason he lived with such joy is that he lived outside of himself.
Jesus didn’t close himself off from the Father’s will, from the Spirit’s counsel, from the help of angels, from divine prophecies and promises about him that did not agree with circumstances around him, from religion and church, from friends, from spiritual habits and practices like prayer and worship and from a good dinner or party.
Life is less joyful when it’s just about you. Why? Because you are limited. We all are. Limited resources. Limited time and availability. Limited strength and energy. Limited wisdom and intelligence. We are finite beings and we have limits.
Real, lasting, confident, exuberant joy exists outside of those limits. So get outside of yourself and find it this CHRISTmas season. The best place to look is salvation. The powerful works and words of God.
Salvation is a celebration!! (Jesus said that angels rejoice when a sinner repents!!)
Salvation is a party!! (Just read the book of Revelation depicting heavenly joy, or the parables of Jesus inviting people to parties like dinners and weddings!!)
Jesus once told his disciples one of the reasons he talked to them and taught them: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).
See it! Their joy was not found in themselves. If they looked to their own faith, their own productivity, their own circumstances, even their own joy, it would not be complete. But, if they received from the outside the joy of Jesus, poured into them by faith, then they’d find full joy.
PRAYER: Jesus, I see your joy. Jesus, I want your joy. Jesus, I believe you when you say that I can have your joy as long as I look outside myself. Open my eyes, my feelings, my trust, my desire to live in a joy beyond my own and be filled with yours. Inspire me to celebrate salvation in a way that is so contagious that others want your joy that they see in me. Amen.
5 PLACES TO FIND MORE JOY:
Save this and spend time in these places over the next few days. You will be filled with more joy!
A poem by Paul David Tripp
“The delights of the physical world were carefully crafted to point to the One who alone can give your heart eternal delight.”
The Joy of Children
If you’re local, join me and a bunch of others looking for more joy as we sit and watch joy-filled children share the Christmas story on Sundays, December 10 and 17. Come to CrossLife Church for the service beginning at 9:30am. We’ll sing Christmas songs, hear a short Bible message, and then the children will present a Bible musical for us. This happens on BOTH Sundays with two different children’s groups.
Joy to the World (Joyful, Joyful)
A song performed by Phil Wickham as part of The Chosen Christmas special 2022. Do you see any joyful people singing this song? Does it feel like the joy of Christ is filling them as they express joy to others?
Give a Year-End Gift to Backpack Friends
Read this urgent yet hopeful message from my friend, Tom, asking for help to feed kids on a waitlist for weekend meals. Backpack Friends is a community partner of CrossLife Church. You can give from wherever you live. And giving generously truly generates joy in your own heart, not to mention helping children.
52 Acts of Kindness
Watch or listen to this message I preached called “What Does It Mean to Be Blessed?” I’ll teach you how important it is to love yourself (and that’s biblical). And I’ll share a list of 52 acts of kindness you can do in one year, one for each week.