It's week 3 of the Christmas season friends! That means that we're already halfway through this beautiful and wonderful Advent season. Can you believe that? It's almost the end of the year! But that's a conversation for another post. Today's post is about joy and, according to some advent traditions, the journey.
Let's start with joy.
Luke 1:26-33
"In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.'"
If you were Mary would you be happy with the news from Gabriel? But the theme of this week's Advent candle isn't happiness, it's joy. Joy isn't just an emotion. It's a choice. So how do you choose joy? Trust. Trust in Christ as Mary did.
Luke 1:38
"'I am the Lord's slave,' said Mary. 'May it be done to me according to your word.'"
Mary chose to trust and so discovered the secret to joy. We have the same choice before us. Trust God and delight in the joy that resting in His presence gives us or let our joy be stolen because of our fear and doubts.
The second part of this Advent candle is the Journey. There's actually lots of journeys in the story of Christmas. The one that Mary took to visit Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-56. Then there's the most famous journey of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem in Luke 2:1-5 and of course the journey of the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. Finally the journey of the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12.
None of these journeys were easy for the people involved. Mary was a pregnant virgin, Joseph was getting ready to raise a baby that wasn't his own and traveling with his very pregnant fiancee. The shepherds were calmly tending their sheep when angels suddenly appeared! That's not a normal night and the wise men had to travel a long ways and evade a king who wanted to kill them.
And yet each journey is filled with hope and joy because the people on these journeys were trusting God. What journey is God taking you on? And how will you choose to handle it? With trust and joy or doubt and fear?
Whatever journey you're on this Advent season I pray that you'll choose joy as the third candle is lit this week.
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