The Candle of JOY
Advent Week Three, Day One
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Isaiah 35:1,2 ESV
“Joy to the World, the Lord has come.
Let earth receive her king.
Let every heart prepare Him room; and heaven and nature sing.
And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing.”
--Isaac Watts
Those words have become like so many in our “Christmas vocabulary.” They have simply become pretty words whose meaning and power have gotten lost in translation.
Why is that? Is it because of the season’s commercialism or life’s pace? No, I think it is something simpler that than. I think it is a memory problem.
We have forgotten that God promised, through Isaiah, the advent of a Messiah who would lift sin’s curse and show God’s glory to the world. We’ve forgotten that, as followers of Jesus, we are privileged to have a foretaste of this heavenly reality. And because we’ve forgotten, Jesus followers seem to have the same lack of joy symptomatic of the rest of the world.
On this Advent Sunday, have you lost the joy God has enabled you to experience? Look to Bethlehem’s manger to find the only source of joy that will never fail.
Posted on
Sun, December 11, 2011
by John Hollan