Advent 2024 - Joy

 Devotion for the week...

It's week three of Advent already! So far we have considered the hope and peace Jesus brought when He came to the earth to live as one of us. This week we're going back in time to revisit a devotion from 2019 as we look at the joy He gives. I have to start this week's devotion with a prologue, though.

If you've been reading these devotions long enough, you may remember that I've said before that I struggle with writing about joy because there are people in the church suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. These illnesses rob people of the joy that should be theirs. The church, unfortunately, sometimes compounds this by claiming that 'true Christians' don't need medication or counseling to manage their depression or other mental illness, they just need more faith. Even worse, I once sat through a sermon during which the pastor claimed mental illness was caused by demonic influence, which had me practically grinding my teeth because I knew there were people sitting in the congregation that day who deal with mental illness.

Mental illness is just that - an illness. It is not caused by demonic influence or by a lack of faith. There is no cause for shame or condemnation. Please, please, if you suffer from depression or anxiety or any other mental illness, please speak to your doctor. There is help available and you deserve that help.

Having said that, let's have a look at what the Bible says about joy.

In the Old Testament, before Nehemiah's time, the people had been exiled because they had turned away from God. They had been taken captive and lived in exile for decades, but in Nehemiah's day they were allowed to return to Israel. During the restoration of the temple, the Book of the Law of God had been found and they gathered all the people together to hear it read. Hearing it was a shock to the people, as they understood how very far they had fallen from the standard God had set for them. But Nehemiah told the people of Israel, "Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" (Nehemiah 8:10).

Now, this might sound odd. The people were crying in their distress, but Nehemiah told them to celebrate! Why? Why would they celebrate when they just learned that God wanted so much more from them and for them?

Even today, this same sadness is often how people react when they first learn about God and how He wants us to live. They feel miserable because they know how they have lived and how far that is from the holy lives God wants us to live. People feel like it's impossible for God to love them because they have been too bad.

In His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, though, Jesus prayed, "I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy" (John 17:13). Jesus taught His disciples about living the way God wants, both through the things He said and through what He modeled for them. But none of that was meant to bring them sadness. In fact, it was to bring them joy.
God is not standing over us, waiting gleefully to punish us for our sins. Rather, He is waiting expectantly, longing for us to turn to Him for forgiveness. If we now understand that "everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard" (Romans 3:23), then we are free to "repent and turn away from [our] idols, and stop all [our] detestable sins" (Ezekial 14:6). In other words, now that we know we are not right with God, we can change our direction and become right with Him, which is certainly cause for joy!

Nehemiah could tell the people that the joy of the Lord was their strength because now that they knew God's standard, they could begin to follow it and to live as He wanted His people to live. The same is true for us now. Once we trust in Jesus as our Savior, we are filled with joy that has nothing to do with our circumstances. It is the joy of knowing our relationship with God is secure and our sins have been forgiven.

Jesus said, "There is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!" (Luke 15:7). Our repentance brings joy to God and to us, and it was made possible by Jesus coming to save us. That is the joy that comes from Christmas.

Advent 2024 - Peace

Devotion for the week...

It's the second week of Advent! Are you finished decorating for Christmas? Ours is done, and now I'm starting to think about making some cookies to have on hand. We don't usually have much company in over the holidays, but I still like to have lots of cookies ready just in case (mostly because I like to eat them, too 😆).

Last week, for the first week of Advent, we considered the hope Jesus brings. This week we're looking at the peace He brings. As we see everywhere at this time of year, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

For a child is born to us,

    a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

    And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). 

 

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but you may have noticed that the world is still full of trouble. Thankfully, even the trouble isn't a surprise to God. In fact, Jesus told His disciples to expect it! "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

The other day I was listening to my Christmas playlist, which includes Casting Crown's version of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, and it felt perfectly made for this week's devotion. The poem that eventually became the classic carol was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in the midst of the Civil War. It captures the disconnect between Christmas' message of peace on earth and the reality Longfellow saw around him. In the second last verse of the poem, Longfellow wrote,

"And in despair I bowed my head:

'There is no peace on earth,' I said,

'For hate is strong, and mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men.'"

Those words still ring true today, don't they? There doesn't seem to be much peace to be found and hate is still plenty strong.

Ah, but Longfellow didn't stay in despair! The last verse says,

"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:

'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;

The Wrong shall fail,

The Right prevail,

With peace on earth, good-will to men.'"

That, right there, is the source of our peace. Even though all around us is madness, God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. We can have peace, no matter what trouble and sorrow we face, because we know that He is in control and that He "causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God." (Romans 8:28).

Advent 2024 - Hope

Devotion for the week...

It's the first week of Advent! As I type this, our house is a disaster with Christmas stuff in boxes and plastic totes all over the place. The tree is up and the lights are on it, but that's as far as I've gotten so far. Despite the mess, I love this process of getting the house ready for Christmas.

I also love the process of writing Advent devotions to get our hearts ready for Christmas. Jesus came to earth to bring us hope, peace, joy, and love, so we're going to focus on those four things this month. Today we begin with hope.

We listen to a radio station called The Joy FM, broadcast out of Florida. We've been listening to them for years, so we're very familiar with the on air personalities, and one of the ways they describe themselves is by saying they're 'real people, living real life along with you.' One morning a few weeks ago, that was very obvious. The morning crew, Dave, Bill, and Carmen, are usually very upbeat and funny, but as soon as I heard their voices this particular morning I knew something was wrong. Carmen sounded like she was barely holding back tears, and they were all very solemn. Turns out they had suddenly lost a friend the night before, someone who worked at a sister station and who had once worked with them at The Joy FM. You could tell they were reeling from the news, processing their grief even as they talked about their friend's faith and his love for Jesus.

The next week, the first morning they were back on the air after their trip for his funeral, they talked about how surprised they were by the first song played at the funeral. Glorious Day is such an upbeat song, it took them by surprise when it first started to play. Then they realized what a perfect song it is for a funeral because of the chorus, which says, "You called my name, and I ran out of that grave." It's a celebration of the incredible hope we have in Jesus.

Jesus was born as the baby we celebrate at Christmas so that He could become the sacrifice we remember on Good Friday, and the resurrected Savior we celebrate on Easter Sunday. Not only that, but because He died and rose again, we have the assurance that we won't stay in our graves, either.

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back" (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Unless Jesus returns first, the grave will someday claim us all. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. For us and for all those who believe in Jesus, we have this hope: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died" (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).