Recently I wrote that the world has added many things to the Christmas Season, “food, drink, shopping, partying, and cheer.”
Christmas Cheer! The demand for Christmas Cheer(!) is all around us. The world wants to see massive smiles and hear lots of laughter. But sometimes that is difficult to do. It is tough to try to put on a face of cheeriness when inside we are lonely, sad, grieving, or afraid.
While we see others surrounded by loved friends and we are not. While we see others happy and excited about their prospects, and we are not. While we see others embracing loved ones and we have lost ours. When we see others bravely facing life and we are facing financial problems, relationship difficulties. – All these things make Christmas Cheer(!) challenging.
I am reminded, however, of that first Christmas night when the angels appeared to those shepherds. They did not proclaim good news of Christmas Cheer(!). They proclaimed good news of Great Joy!
“But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.’” [Luke2:10 HCSB]
We can have Joy(!) even when we do not have Christmas Cheer(!). Cheerfulness is usually determined by our outside circumstances. Joy(!), however, is a condition of a heart that has been strengthened by the power of God because of what Christ Jesus has done for us! As Paul prayed,
“May you be strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for all endurance and patience, with joy giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.” [Colossians 1:11 HCSB]
So, if this Christmas Season you are experiencing circumstances that dampen your Cheer(!), take heart child of God, He has given you Joy(!) and that Joy(!) is your strength. Amen
