Advent Blog (Page 2)

Friday – The Joy of Questions As we end our week on Joy, we have walked through the fulfillment of Christ, the contagiousness of joy, and the practice of joy making in your life. Here are some questions to guide your thoughts and prayers this week as you seek to be discipled in joy. 1. Where have you been disappointed in lesser joys? How does understanding the joy of Jesus help you avoid and improve this disappointment? 2. When have you felt ‘closeness of Jesus’, how did joy play a part of that closeness? What needs to happen to return to that feeling of love?Read More →

Thursday – Living Joy How does one live out of the joy of Christ? The answer to this question is always personal. So the best way to learn this is by hearing how someone else cultivates joy. So here are my three main avenues or paths to joy in Jesus. The three avenues that I use are joy in repentance, joy in Scripture, and joy in purpose. I go through much of my life aware of my inadequacies, sins, and failings. I never doubt the sense that God is the sovereign worker in my heart and life, because I know I do not deserve it.Read More →

Wednesday – Contagious Joy Buddy the Elf from the movie, Elf, has quite the quotable quote, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loudly for all to hear” While funny and integral to the plot of the movie, there is some common ground with the Christian Faith that this movie portrays. As we see in this passage from Sunday Acts 16:22-34, Paul and Silas after wrongly being thrown in prison and beaten with rods. They could have responded in any way that would have been justified in our eyes. If they complained or were bitter, we would understand, because we know we wouldRead More →

Tuesday – Joyful Fruition Sometimes pain proceeds joy. When we think about our salvation we have this experience: first we must repent of the sin and evil in us, then we have the joy and relief of comprehending so great a salvation given us in Jesus. For our growth in discipleship, we must see how much we need to grow. That gap between where we are and where we will one day be is the place where lament meets joy. Joy is not simply happiness or contentment, it is something more powerful and transformative. It is a piece of heaven that meets us in theRead More →

Monday- A Psalm of Joy It was never meant to be a Christmas song, but it is one of the best known. “Joy to the World” by Isaac Watts is iconic in tune and message. Everyone loves to sing this during the Christmas season, but I love to sing this in July! Why? Because it is Isaac Watt’s interpretation of Psalm 98, the Psalm of Joy. Back in Watt’s time, everyone sang psalms only, but his re-interpretations of psalms that we know as hymns was the contemporary understanding for Watts’ church. He wanted to bring out the picture and imagery of the psalm and excitementRead More →