“But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”
Luke 2:10 CSB
Every night during our bedtime routine with Violet, we pray, and always end our prayers by saying “amen.” Violet loves this part, because since she is basically a sponge soaking everything from us up, and she belts out a big, “AMEN,” and it’s just so perfect. It’s her saying something we say every night with so much joy.
I love it so much every time I hear it.
It reminds me of the core message of this Christmas season, that we can have great joy because of God’s great gift.
I’ve never really understood the attitude of being a grizzled, hardened follower of Jesus, viewing everything in life a battle and having very little joy because of everything being so serious. Sure, we go through hard things in our lives, but our battles have already been won by our savior, so we should meet these battles with confidence and joy.
Life is a joy when we are fully trusting on God, because we are confident in our savior.
When we go through different seasons of life, we have an opportunity, or choice really, to either let the circumstances control our emotions, or choose to have joy in every season. Easier said than done, which is why it is important to choose joy, and let your mindset follow.
Following Jesus is not being a follower of the world, meaning you need to understand who Jesus is and what He said. This is why over and over I talk about the importance of having a daily faith walk of reading Scripture. Church and a sermon are good, but one day out of the week isn’t a discipleship plan Jesus calls you into.
Jesus gives us the example to follow: to love those who are hurting and who have been cast out, to use your ability to help those in need, to put away your sword because God will fight the battle, and above all to spend time with your creator so that you can enter each day prepared.
That man, who was both fully divine and fully human, is what we celebrate on Christmas. Because Jesus was the solution to a system that desperately needed to be restored. He came, just as the angels told the shepherds of the field, for all people. Jesus was the good news to a broken world.
So, choose joy. Choose joy in every season because you have something to be joyful for!
It’s not always easy, life has highs and lows, trust me, I have had a difficult path over the past two years, and yet, I am joyful. I am joyful because I have a savior who loves me and opens the right doors at just the right time.
Part of stepping into this mindset is making a choice to choose joy before you get out of bed. You might not even mean it, but saying it out loud, “God, I am choosing to have joy today,” will begin to change your perspective each day.
Not every day will be amazing, but every day is an opportunity to choose joy.
Be wise in your actions, if doom scrolling makes you less joyful, set limits to not grab your phone. If you have a friend who is always negative, maybe give them some more space, or be even braver and have a conversation with them about that. If your feeling stuck, take quiet moments to meditate on what gives you life, because God has placed that in you.
And if you don’t get it right, there’s always tomorrow to try again.
As we gear up into this Christmas, remember the joy that we celebrate it for. We have joy because God’s greatest gift to us was His son, who restored us. That is powerful, and the reason for our reverent joy in this season, and every season. Choose to have joy in the seasons, because we have a reason to be deeply joyful.
-Your pastor and friend, Joshua.
About the Author: Joshua Thomas is a husband, father, and pastor doing what he can to love others the way Jesus did. You can find him reading a good book, sipping warm tea, taking pictures, or dreaming. He may not have it all figured out, but the journey is the best part. You can find him on the social media he uses Tik Tok, Bluesky and Instagram
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