As we enter November, and the Holiday season, I can't think of a better time to talk about JOY! Each year as the "holidays" roll around I cringe inwardly. Here it comes, the 'season of giving', when everywhere I look there will be garish ads for Thanksgiving and Christmas that urge me to buy, buy, buy. I always look around me and wonder what happened to the quiet joy I used to feel each year at this time. I try to ignore the commercialization of this wonderful time and focus on the "reason for the season" but each year I end up depressed as I realize that Christmas has come and gone in a whirling rush. However, I think this Bible study on JOY as a characteristic of the Fruit of the Spirit will definitely help because I am beginning to realize that its a conflict which is going on inside me that is the real root of my holiday blues.
Think about the story of the Birth of Jesus. Think about how many times Joy was mentioned. In Luke 1:28 " the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (NKJV) In Luke 1:44 " For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy." In Luke 41:46-47: " And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." In Matthew 2:10: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." And of course the verse in the picture above: "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Christmas celebrates a time of Great JOY, of Exceeding Great JOY! It is no wonder we feel robbed at Christmas. But what is Joy and why was there such Joy at Jesus birth?
Webster defines Joy as: "The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire..." All of the people of the earth had cause for Joy at the birth of Jesus, because of the "expectation of Good". God had given us a great gift, His Son, to take away the sins of the world. Just like when we were children, gazing at the presents under the tree, joyfully anticipating the opening and finding of something longed for (an "expectation of Good"), the Jewish people had looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. Now, on this side of the birth of the Messiah, we look forward to an eternal life in the presence of God which Jesus Himself promised us and then died to secure for us. That is our "prospect of possessing what we desire". This then is the reason for our Joy, not presents, not bright decorations, happy songs or delicious food. We have Great and Exceeding Joy in the fact that God Loved us so much that He sent "His only begotten Son". Joy indeed! And a Joy that does not depend on a calendar date or a season.
This Joy, that is a characteristic of the Fruit of the Spirit, does not not depend on our circumstances or what is happening around us. It is a "pleasurable feeling" caused by the expectation of a future promised securely to us by the Creator Himself through His Son. Jesus said "If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." (John 15:10-11 NIV) And later He said "I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you" (John 16:22 NKJV) Once you have met the Risen Christ and accepted His gift of salvation, you have a joy no one can take from you. Jesus was speaking to His disciples. The men who would endure beatings, persecutions and painful death for His sake. Yet with all of that, still they had Joy that no one could take from them. Paul, who also endured these things in his lifetime, said: "known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always Rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything." He encourages us to be like wise, Rejoicing no matter what is happening to us physically. In the same way, our Joy at Christmastime should not be taken away just because of outward circumstances of commercialization or of not having enough worldly things. For truly, in a spiritual sense, we "possess everything" we need in order to celebrate the Holidays with JOY!
Remember also that these characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit come from the Spirit of God which Jesus told us would be shared with us when we accepted the gift of Salvation. Have you ever thought about the fact that JOY is an attribute of God Himself? We get wrapped up in thinking of God as Omnipotent, All-Seeing, and Powerful beyond our comprehension. But Jesus showed us that not only is God Powerful and omnipotent, He is also loving, joyous, peaceful, long suffering, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. All the things that Jesus was here on earth show us what God Himself is. Just think of that! And what is more, listen to what the Prophet Zephaniah said: "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17 NIV) The word translated as rejoice isn't a quiet word, it is a dynamic word that means, not quiet joy, but exultation. God exults over us with singing! Our restored relationship with Him through the sacrifice of Jesus makes Our Creator sing with Joy! It makes my heart almost burst with happiness to think of that!
This conflict that is going on within us ("For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit" Galatians 5:19), is trying to rob us of our gift of Joy. The desire for worldly things makes us forget the promise of spiritual things. Do you remember a game called "Let's Make A Deal"? The game would start with the host giving the person something, usually a brightly wrapped gift and then asking them if they would like to trade it for something else behind a curtain or in a larger box. That game was based on this conflict that goes on within each of us every day. We are being bombarded by the world around us with all the enticements that appeal to our physical nature, trying to use our earthly desires to make us give up our spiritual blessings.
Thinking about this I realized that at no time of year is this conflict more apparent than at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. The "Holiday Season" celebrates our Spiritual Blessings and accentuates our feelings of Love, Joy and Peace, which are the first named characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit. Why wouldn't the physical side pull out all the stops to compete, bombarding us with enticing sights, sounds and smells to rob us of our JOY? The competition is natural, but our giving in to it is not! When we find ourselves angered and depressed over what "Christmas has become these days" we have just shown that the physical side has won its bid for our attention. The negative emotions of hatred, anger and depression are the main characteristics of the "works of the flesh" that Paul warns about in Galatians 5:19-21. At this time of year we need to be especially on our guard against our physical nature and all the worldly enticements that appeal to it. We need that focus on Spiritual things that will keep our hearts and minds centered on the Blessings we have from God our Loving Father.
Remember Paul's words: "Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." (Romans 8:5 NIV). As christians, we need to make the setting of our "minds on the things of the Spirit" our Holiday Resolution. I hope this Bible study has helped you as much as it has helped me. Putting the whole situation in the light of the physical/spiritual conflict has given me a new perspective and a bigger picture of what is happening and why I have had such negative feelings about the Holidays for so many years. Whenever I feel the need to recenter my thoughts on spiritual things, I am just going to think of my Heavenly Father "singing with JOY" as He wrapped His gift to me in "swaddling clothes" and laid Him in a manger bed, anticipating my JOY when I found Him!