Student Body
I want to encourage you to pursue a Word based Christmas joy.
What are you talking about? Why and more importantly how would we do such a thing?
I know that this time of the year becomes very busy for all of us.
I also know that holiday busyness will rob us of the true joy of the Christmas season.
So, we need a Christmas joy that is deep and satisfying.
Christmas joy that is Word based will be deep and very satisfying.
For the Old and New Testament saints who lived during the writing of the Scriptures joy was produced by the fulfillment of an anticipated promise.
The Messiah, anticipated and promised came. The righteous Simeon declared, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your Word. For my eyes have seen your salvation. (Luke 2:29-30 cf., Titus 1:2).
What else could create a satisfying joy?
There is joy in knowing the details of God’s plan to send Christ, our Messiah Redeemer.
His Christmas plan creates a deep and satisfying joy because we know from the Word of God that it was lovingly prepared, sovereignly directed, and successfully executed.
But could there be more, something else that would deepen our joy and sustain it beyond the holiday itself.
Yes, there is. Our Christmas joy can be deep, satisfying, and it can extend beyond the holiday itself when it is focused on the person of Christ.
A Word based Christmas joy is about Christ.
It is about the love of the Father sending Christ (John 3:16) to us in need of a Savior.
It is about the sacrificial love of Christ for us to pay the debt of our sin (John 13:1; Eph 5:2; 5:25; 1 Tim 1:15).
So as the prophet Isaiah would say, Behold your God (Isa 40:9).
Christ, the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God (1 Tim 1:17) authored an eternal salvation (Heb 5:9) and gave us eternal life (John 10:28; 17:2).
With the song writer we sing “Joy has dawned upon the world, promised from creation, God’s salvation now unfurled, Hope for every nation. Not with fanfares from above, Not with scenes of glory, But a humble gift of love; Jesus born of Mary”
Has the joy of Christmas dawned in your heart?
Is this gift of eternal life creating a deep and lasting you in your life?
May God help us to pursue a Word based Christmas joy that is Christ-focused.