Faith and Joy

Happiness and Joy can be so closely related...

Circumstances will be what they are.  

Life happens. 

Sometimes it's good, sometimes not.

What if, instead of seeking the way to happiness, 

we discover that joy is the way?

Jesus said: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  JOHN 10:10

Joy is different.  When life is challenging, it doesn't seem like the kind of full which Jesus speaks about having.  Happiness may be more connected to circumstances.  I've experienced times of great sadness, where there was definitely no happiness, yet joy was very present.  

Joy runs deep - transcending circumstances.

Could you agree that even when there are hard times, and in them you know you are loved, regardless, and in spite of the circumstances, that joy is present?  Not happiness, but joy.

Joy is rooted in relationship - one that loves unconditionally.  That's godly love.  The kind of love that always contends for the good of another.  When a person knows they are loved, there is comfort, and peace, and yes, even joy in the hard stuff.  

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines joy as:

• the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires - described as delight
• a state of happiness or felicity - described as bliss
• a source or cause of delight

Take delight in the Lord,

    and he will give you the desires of your heart.  PSALM 37:4

This verse captured my attention some years ago, and now here, contemplating joy, I find that DELIGHT and JOY are connected!  God says, I love you.  Delight in me - have joy in my love for you, and receive my love abundantly!  

Burdens shared are cut in half

Joy shared is doubled

When we are receiving the full measure of God's love, we have more than enough to share.  We can be generous.  And, when we are generous and bless others with this love, it produces more joy!  

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  LUKE 2:8-12

In these days of Christmas, where we celebrate the birth of the Christ child and Savior of the world, we wait on the promises of God, to send His love into the world through Jesus - Emmanuel (God WITH us).  He humbled himself and came down, love came down, and love poured out.

In receiving this love, everlasting joy is possible.  

Faith and Love

Love is something that flows from one being to another.  It is expressed from the one communicating love and received by the one for whom it is intended.  Others who witness love can't help being positively impacted by its allure.   

Love draws us in.

Love is always for our good.

Love always builds up and never tears down.

Love can't be manufactured - it either exists or it doesn't. 

In this second week of Advent, focusing on Faith and Love, I was traveling behind a vehicle that was decorated with two bumper stickers: 

My first thought was that we can coexist without loving or understanding one another, with a posture of tolerance, rather than love.    

We can believe in love, and not be loving.  

We can believe in peace, without being peacemakers.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.  1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-8a

Jesus embodies love and peace, bringing them into the world. 

God is love.  1 John 4:16

In the same way, God calls his people to be loving.  

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  1 JOHN :7-12

  

The journey of Advent points us to Jesus, who entered this broken world to bring love and peace.  More than merely coexisting, or believing in love and peace, Jesus invites us to love others as ourselves because of the love we've received from God.  And, having experienced the reconciling nature of God, God calls us to be peacemakers. 

Love always enters in for the good of another!

People throughout the world are hurting in a variety of ways -  lonely, hungry, displaced, brokenhearted, desperate, angry... the list is long.  Imagine what love does in each of these situations...  Love says "you are not alone and I won't abandon you.  I'll share what I have and we'll figure this out together."  Love never says "it's someone else's problem."  

Through faith, the kind of redeeming love and peace

necessary to heal the strife in this world is possible.

Faith and Hope

HOPE

It's a powerful driver!

The HOPE of something better leads people to hurdle incredible challenges... 

and the lack of HOPE can drive another to despair.  

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  HEBREWS 11:1

Hope that comes from faith is far beyond wishful thinking. This kind of hope is grounded in the assurance of the redeeming work of God through the finished work of Jesus, the Messiah.

In this season of Advent, we wait for the birth of this Christ child, the one promised and hoped for.  Hope grounded in faith looks to the ONE that always keeps his promises.  Looking back, we can see promises fulfilled.  Looking forward, knowing the faithfulness of God in the past, we can trust that He will be faithful in the years to come.  

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  JOHN 1:1-2, 14

There is great mystery in the work of God.

Faith stands in the gap between fact and doubt.  We wonder, we question, and we doubt.  Some reject.  The goodness and faithfulness of God calls people to hope.  

Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life... and He calls us to follow Him.  Human beings don't do this perfectly, we make mistakes and are frequent in our failings.  However, we can look to the ONE who walked this same journey of life and did it perfectly.  

All of human history points to the resurrection.  It is through this sole moment in time that faith pivots.  So in this week of Advent, the week of Hope, we have the opportunity to focus on what truly brings hope.

Hillsong wrote and produced a beautiful song.  Take a moment and look to the Hope of the World, Jesus.

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly trust in Jesus name

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When Darkness seems to hide His face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
My anchor holds within the veil

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all
He is Lord
Lord of all

Christ alone
Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

Christ alone; cornerstone
Weak made strong; in the Saviour's love
Through the storm, He is Lord
Lord of all

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,

Faultless stand before the throne.