Bono once said, “Joy is an act of defiance.” I like the way he put it. A joy-filled disposition by a disciple of Jesus is an act of defiance against Satan, sin, disappointment, and especially death.
Christmas is an ideal time to remember and embrace the joy proclaimed to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. “Joy” is a wonderful word that occurs over 150 times in Scripture, and if you include other terms associated with it—such as “rejoicing”—it occurs around 400 times.
That is a lot of times where God encourages joy!
Luke 2 tells us that there were shepherds living out in the fields near Bethlehem when an angel of the Lord appeared to them. Luke 2:10 (NIV) tell us that the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
Did you catch that? The birth of Jesus should cause great joy for all of us!
But what is it about Jesus’ birth that brings joy—even for us living thousands of miles from Bethlehem and so many centuries later?
Joy to the World, because . . .
I like this definition of joy summarized from Scripture on the topic: a lasting feeling of contentment, hope, and confidence which comes from personally trusting in God’s promises at a deep level.
What was the reason the angel gave for why Jesus’ birth meant great joy? In Luke 2:12, the angel went on to say, “In the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
The Jews knew that the coming of the Messiah meant the fulfillment of God’s promises in the Old Testament. As the long-promised King, the Messiah would bring a glorious kingdom. He would bring peace and salvation.
The shepherds lived in an age marked by the rule of “Satan, sin, and death.” It was an epoch of pain and suffering and of waiting for God to come and make things right.
The kingdom of God and the Messianic King, they knew, would change all that.
“In the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
What most Jews in the first century were expecting was a clear line of demarcation between this age and the age to come. But what actually happened in Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension is that God’s kingdom was dragged from the future into the present. The future is not fully here just yet, but Jesus brought the age to come into this age—he opened a portal to the coming world.
By making Jesus’ kingship our reason for great joy, the angel was making the same connection Jesus made when he began preaching: “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:15b, NIV). The kingdom of God’s nearness is why we have gospel—the best possible news—to believe and share. The King has come, he’s brought his kingdom, and that’s why we have joy.
His kingdom has been established, and the fullness of that kingdom is surely coming. We live between-the-comings: between Jesus’ first coming to inaugurate the kingdom and his second to bring the kingdom to its climax over the whole world.
Advent (from Latin adventus, “coming”) is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and an ideal time to remind ourselves of and prepare for the Second Coming of Christ. Because we live in this in-between age, we feel sorrow. But because we also have a foot in the age to come, we can experience joy for that coming world now. It’s not sorrow or joy, but sorrow and joy, or, as Paul describes in Romans 8:18-25, we live in an era of groaning mixed with hope.
“It’s not sorrow or joy, but sorrow and joy, or, as Paul describes in Romans 8:18-25, we live in an era of groaning mixed with hope.”
So, the best way to fully appreciate the comings of Jesus is described in the old song we sing this time of year:
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing.”
But even if we understand why we should have joy, sometimes it’s helpful to take practical steps to get there. So, let’s get practical. Here are four ways to embrace the joy that the angel described, not just for the Christmas season, but for all of life:
1. Joy comes by meditating on God’s promises in Jesus.
True joy is a response to God’s promises. It is to meditate upon them and make them true in our minds. John Milton famously said in Paradise Lost, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” As disciples of Jesus, we discipline our minds to focus on and memorize God’s promises and goodness for our life in his kingdom. For example, that
- Death, disease, and disappointment will soon be over;
- Eternal life will be ours, disease is temporary, and we will be overcomers through Jesus in the end, no matter what!
Richard Foster explains, “The decision to set the mind on the higher things of life is an act of the will. That is why celebration is a discipline. It is not something that falls on our heads. It is the result of a consciously chosen way of thinking and living.”[1]
2. Joy is the result of a choice.
Joy is a choice to value God’s presence, promises, and work in our lives.
John Mark Comer likes to point out that the human brain is hardwired to focus on the negative in our field of vision. God made us that way for survival. In early human history, our ancestors’ survival depended on scanning the horizon for a threat, such as attacking animals, warring tribes, storms, major mishaps with fire, etc.
Some neuroscientists have posited that it takes just three seconds for a negative memory to imprint on the brain, but fourteen seconds for a positive one. It has been said that, when it comes to negativity, our brains are like sticky substances such as flypaper or Velcro—tending to get caught on the negative. By contrast, they are like Teflon when it comes to positivity, where the positive experiences tend to run in and out of our brains without getting stuck.
That’s why I like the way Comer’s family embraces moments of joy. He writes, “We do this weird thing we call ‘take an imprint,’ where, whenever we’re in a good moment, we pause for fourteen seconds, and just sit, eyes open, in the moment to imprint the memory on our brain. That way, whenever we call up that memory, our brain will release the chemicals of happiness.”
“It takes just three seconds for a negative memory to imprint on the brain, but fourteen seconds for a positive one.”
I encourage you to take the promises of God in Jesus and meditate on them. Choose goodness. Choose the kingdom promises. Do this over and over and over again. Henri Nouwen said it this way: “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
3. Joy will be experienced by engagement.
Joy does not typically just happen to us. If we want joy, we must engage. Choose to do the things which will help refocus your heart on joy. Here are some examples that I find helpful:
- Sing worship songs or hymns.
- Share good food with friends.
- Go to a Christmas Eve service and/or a Christmas concert.
- Get into gift-giving.
- Go and see the Christmas lights around town.
Instead of getting caught on the negative (of which there’s plenty), what are some ways you can engage in experiences that refocus your heart on joy?
4. Embrace that habit of joy so it will persist even in difficult times.
When you’re going through a persistent season of difficulty, remind yourself over and over of God’s promises. Do this over and over, day after day, and in time, you will experience what Paul calls “the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2, NIV). You will become a person for whom joy is your baseline. Other emotions come and go, yes, and you’re not happy all the time, but joy becomes the default setting of the person you become when you focus on Christ.
As Christmas approaches, I am reminded of my first memories of the story of Jesus. My mother gathered me and my sisters, as little children, together around the Christmas tree, on a cold December morning in Canada, and read to us the story of the birth of Jesus. We were not really a church-going family at that time, but my mom wanted to make sure we knew about the birth of Jesus. We had an idea of the joy of that story but did not understand what it really meant in its fullness.
About 25 years later, my mother fully surrendered to Jesus as King. My mother died this past year. At 87 years of age, dementia had taken her mind and her body. Now this is my first Christmas without her, but in the words of Bono, I embrace a defiance, a rebellion, against her dementia and death. It was not final.
I have joy in my heart when I think about my mother. I am confident that she is experiencing all of the Messiah’s promises. She now lives in joy in paradise with him.
“I have joy in my heart when I think about my mother. I am confident that she is experiencing all of the Messiah’s promises.”
His promises mean more than I can express. All I can say are the words spoken by the angel all those years ago.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.”
This year at Christmas, even in grief, I have great joy. My hope is for you to have defiant joy, too.
[1] Richard Foster, Treasury of Christian Discipline (Prince Press, 1995), 195.
