John 17:13 "I am coming to you now,
but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the
full measure of my joy within them.
Life is a routine of getting up in the morning, going to school or
work, accomplishing our daily duties, making decisions, and hopefully by
bedtime checking off another day well done. Occasionally into this routine come
moments of joy … the sight of a sunset on the way home from work, a special
letter in the mail, the touch of warmth from those we love. Christmas is a
season when we are often fortunate to experience many such moments, and because
we do I think we are ripe to remember the meaning of joy. But the joy Scripture
speaks of is more than a moment. It is more than a brief exuberance. It is
deeper than a feeling of emotional effervescence.
Joy is a gift of grace. The Greek words for grace
and joy are almost twins, charis and chara. Out of experiences of God’s grace,
in good times and bad, a belief begins to grow - the belief that there is an all
rightness at the heart of life. Joy is this growing conviction of confidence
that everything is all right even when everything seems all wrong. It is a
conviction that is not given by the world and therefore the world cannot take
away. It is a gift from God. It is a confidence that gives depth to the good experiences
and hope to the bad. It is a miraculous shift in perspective that life is good
simply because it is given.
Our joy is not in a life that knows no darkness,
but rather that even though we walk through a darkness we have seen a great
light. It is into the world that Jesus sends us with that perspective of joy. It
is with that conviction of rightness at the heart of things that we are to
confront the wear and tear of the routine, the ups and the downs of life. It is
with this conviction of joy that we deal with unfair teachers, egotistical
bosses, personal failure. For joy is the perspective of truth. Joy corrects our
distortions and widens our perception beyond the laughter and beyond the tears.
We carry that conviction into a world where we do not get everything we want,
but receive everything we need to be co-workers and co-celebrators with God.
We are sent into the world equipped with the
perspective of joy. We are to carry out our tasks with the spirit of joy. We
are to make our decisions with the wisdom of joy. And we are to celebrate the
good that we receive with the gratitude of joy.
For it was into this world One was born whose life
was the literal embodiment of joy and of whom the angels said, Do not be afraid; for
behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people
(Luke 2:10 – NASB).
May the moments of joy we experience this Christmas
season contribute to that growing conviction of God’s rightness at the heart of
life, and may we take this conviction beyond the Christmas season into all the
world.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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