Monday,
December 16, 2019
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold,
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “
Luke 2:10-11 ESV
This
week of Advent the focus is on Joy - A
kingdom had many needs, and the subjects of that kingdom would look to the king
in order for those needs to be met. If the subjects of a kingdom were in need,
it became a burden to the people and did not reflect well on the king. A good
king would know what his people required and would lead them in such a way that
they would have it before they knew they needed it. A kingdom that was fully
supplied was a kingdom that experienced joy and the king was integral to making
that possible. Therefore, the joy of a kingdom was not found in its possessions
or its circumstances; the joy of a kingdom was found in the ability of its
king.
God’s
people waited in joyful expectation for their king, The Messiah, for years. It is hard to be joyful about something you
have been promised is going to happen, but it is not happening. Yet they were joyful because of their faith
in the promise of what God would do, not what He had already done in their
presence. The birth of Jesus, our King,
met the greatest need that you and I would ever have – the forgiveness of our
sins. Any other earthly need we may encounter pales in comparison to what has
been provided to us by our King, Jesus. He is everything we could ever need or
want. He is sufficient in and for all
things and the only true source of joy.
So, if you think joy comes from what you possess, you will always be in
want. If you think your joy comes from the circumstances you face, you will
always be worried. In His forgiveness we find freedom, a freedom that truly
brings joy because it frees us from the burden of the debt of sin. The burden of debt is heavy and the penalty
we would have to pay without our King is death but, in His forgiveness, we find
life everlasting. This Christmas focus
on the gift of forgiveness that our King Jesus gave us. Find joy in His freedom from sin. The weight
has been lifted and the
We also
can live in joyful expectation of the second coming of our King. We also can live in the joyful expectation of
what He will do in our lives today, tomorrow, and for years to come. We can live in joyful freedom because of the
sacrifice He made.
The
prophet Habakkuk offered this wisdom, Though the fig
tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive
fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there
be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in
the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:17-18 ESV. Our joy in life
does not come from what we have or encounter. It comes from knowing the King –
Jesus Christ.
