Wednesday,
December 4, 2019
In the same
region there were some
shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by
night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of
the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel
said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of
great joy which will be for all the people; or unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for
you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:8-12
“Joy to the world, the Lord
has come! Let earth receive her King!”
Christmas carols are playing
and the message we hear once again is the hope of a king who is coming to bring
us joy, peace and love. Songs of the
shepherds, the star, the wise men and the manger retell the story of God’s
coming to earth in the form of a babe. “Joy to the world, the Lord has come! Let
earth receive her King!” The world
sings loudly the triumphant message of God’s wonderful grace given for the
souls of men but is that gift really complete unless it is received?
“Joy
to the world, the Lord has come!”
Sadly, this time of year we
can misplace our hope, singing the songs out of tradition and missing the
message of Christmas. The King of Kings,
Jesus, has come. He is the long-awaited
Messiah, the hope of the world.
“Let earth receive her King.” We easily misplace our hope not because God
has not provided the needed gifts, but that man has not “received her King.” There in
Bethlehem on that first Christmas night there were a few who were extremely joyful. But even the joy they experienced was an
expectant joy. While the Lord had come,
His work was not done. The joy was in
the promise of His fulfilling the further prophecies of His work here on
earth. For right now, He was merely a
baby in a manger.
Too many feel that joy is the
product of circumstance. They wait for
something to come into their life that will create feelings of happiness, joy
or peace. For them, joy is something
that happens to you, not something that you carry with you.
Consider the expectation of
the birth of a child and the mixed emotions that are a part of the
waiting. When the day of delivery comes
there is an abundance of happiness. But
the real hope is for the change that the coming of the child will bring in the days
that follow. Life will be different; and
that joy of the promise is the deeper joy that fills the thoughts of the
parents and family. Receiving the child
into their homes and lives will transform their lives. The same is true with Jesus.
How many missed the coming of
the child that night but “received their King” later - a blind man sitting by a
roadside, a tax collector whose life was transformed by the Master, a woman
caught in adultery, some fishermen who laid down their nets and followed - all
found joy. I received Him and I pray you
have as well but the joy I find in His coming is not just the experience of
today but the promise of tomorrow and all of eternity.
“Joy
to the World, the Lord has come” is not
an empty pronouncement but the invitation to receive a new perspective on our
lives and our world. As we anticipate
His impact on our today and our tomorrow, we can experience the joy of His
presence and power. His coming changed
eternity for all men but it can also change our today as we joyfully live in
the hope, He brings for our future.
"You will
have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth”. Luke 1:14
