Daily Devotional For Thursday, December 7, 2023

The Christmas word for today is JOY. I know, it seems like every word for Christmas has some kind of joy in it. We just can’t help it! The shepherds rejoiced, the wise men rejoiced, the angels and Mary and Joseph rejoiced. Even the donkeys were probably filled with joy. Christmas is a joy-to-the world time of year! Right? Well on December 7, 1941, it wasn't for America because Japan did a suprised attack on our Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The attack killed 2,403 U.S. personnel, including 68 civilians, and destroyed or damaged 19 U.S. Navy ships, including 8 battleships. The three aircraft carriers of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were out to sea on maneuvers during this or it would have been far worse. Christmas 1941 was an almost joyless Christmas. I have been to Pearl Harbor several times and to see oil still seeping out from the USS Arizona is a joy-killer. 

Personally, joy is one of my favorite Christmas words. Yet, where is the joy today? In recent surveys, Americans say they aren’ feeling the joy. It cost two arms and two legs to buy just about anything today. Businesses are shutting down, people are losing their jobs, our major cities are unsafe and plagued by government endorsed homelessness and homeless encampments, where needles and human feces are on the sidewalks. We see what appears to be the weaponization of politics against people of faith and conservative views, so where's the joy? Sounds like that old Wendy's commercial.

Jesus told us to expect suffering and persecution like this in Luke 12:11. The problem really is not our culture nor our circumstances, but us. According to Scripture, we cannot manufacture joy — only the Holy Spirit can. It is one of “The Fruits of the Spirit” in Galatians 5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (ESV). So, if we are not experiencing the joy, that is not God’s fault. It is ours.

For any fruit to grow, the soil must be right. How is the soil of your heart. The Bible is very clear that disobedience and etc. prohibits the production of The Fruit of the Spirit. Look at Galatians 5:16-21, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (17) For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, (20) idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, (21) envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (ESV). NOTICE -- not only is The Fruit of the Spirit prohibited from growing, but also people with such lifestyles do not go to heaven. 

Therefore, do not look to your circumstances to find joy. If you’re waiting for perfect circumstances, you’re going to wait a long time. And when they come, the “joy” will last about a minute. If joy is going to work, it has to work in an imperfect, ugly world. That’s what Christmas is all about — the fact that God is able to bring joy to that kind of world; to the world we live in. Do not look to people to bring you joy -- often they kill it.

You can easily choose to be a depressed person. Please do not misunderstand me. I know there are medical and pscyhological reasons for depression. There’s plenty to be depressed about. The same thing goes for being an angry, bitter, or cynical person. Christmas means you can choose to live such a life that the Holy Spirit is able to the produce joy in you. No matter what is going on, there is still plenty to be joyful about!! Even becoming a believer and coming to church does not automatically make you joyful. Today, we want to take just a moment to focus on how you can experience that joy. Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Always be joyful” (NLT). How is that possible? 

That first Christmas, three truths from three different situations the Holy Spirit will produce joy in us:

1. First, joy is here. Sometimes we feel like we’re looking for some map that gives us directions from where we are to a place of joy. The truth is, if you can’t find joy where you are, you’re never going to find it. Look at the shepherds that first Christmas in Luke 2:8-9, That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them (NLT). Life was normal — business as usual — and that's where they began to experience joy. You don't have to go on a vacation to find joy — or leave your job or your family. God wants to bring joy into the midst of the routine or difficult circumstances you are facing right now.
2. The second truth is joy is a journey. Look at Matthew 2:10, “When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with great joy” (NLT). But we know they traveled a long way before they came to Bethlehem and were filled with joy. It was a process. It took time. It wasn’t an instant, push-button solution. The Bible is clear: that is how joy happens for all of us. People looking for instant joy usually end up looking in all the wrong places — some new kick, new drug, new thrill, new relationship.
3. Mary teaches us a third truth about joy that first Christmas: joy is a difficult choice. In Luke 1:48-49,” Mary said, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed” (NLT).  But that’s not where she started! Earlier in the chapter, we read in Luke 1:29-30, “Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!” ( NLT). She was confused, disturbed, and afraid. 

You would be too! She was a teenage girl (who had never been with a man) being told she was going to have a baby. In that day, a unmarried single pregnant woman was physically stoned to death, rejected by her family, friends and faith coummunity.  And if she did not experience a physcial stoning to death, she esperienced both emotional and spiritual "stonins." Mary had to make a difficult choice to move from that place of confusion to a place of joy. She had to choose to trust God. The thing that brings you joy often scares you at first because it involves the difficult choice of trusting God instead of trusting yourself. Here is the truth to remember: joy is found on the other side of the difficult choice to trust God instead of trusting yourself.

Verse To Mediate On: Nehemiah 8:10b, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (ESV).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear heavenly Father, you know that I want to have joy. But so often I try to get it my way. I try to manipulate my circumstances and organize my relationships to get myself to a place of joy. Thank You for reminding me that joy is all about trusting You. Thank you for reminding me that my circumstances or relationships don’t have to be perfect to experience the joy You want to give. I choose to trust You right now and as I do, I know Your Holy Spirit will produce the Fruit of the Spirit called joy in me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”