Christmas Family Devotional Guide

The Coming of Christ Brings JOY


"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
-Hebrews 12:1-2, NKJV


One of the things the coming of Jesus very vividly points out to us is God's perspective on joy. Our fleshly nature believes that joy comes to us through creature comforts and fulfilled desires. Or we think of joy being something received by passively being entertained or pampered.
When God sent His own Son into the world, He chose that none of those things would be part of the circumstances surrounding His birth, or the rest of His earthly life. Instead, in the birth and life of Jesus, we see things from God's perspective: that joy isn't something to be grasped or attained to in this life at all. It is only received as a by-product of living in obedience to the will of God.
Joy comes not in receiving those things that make life easier here in the flesh, but in living successfully through all the difficult circumstances and lack of creature comforts here in the world. This is precisely because all those other things pale in comparison to the surpassing joy that awaits us in the life to come.
This flies in the face of our cultural American understanding of joy. Perhaps that is precisely because we do not have any real understanding of joy at all. Jesus came to bring us redemption through His blood, and restoration to fellowship with God through His never-ending priesthood, as the book of Hebrews attests. By living, dying and rising from the dead, all in obedience to the command of His Heavenly Father (John 6:38; 10:17-18), Jesus demonstrated for us that the pathway to joy is obedience to the will of God.
As the time nears to celebrate the birth of Jesus, may we recognize that God has already placed this wonderful gift before us, like a package wrapped and waiting to be opened. It is the gift of joy. Many will fail to receive it, because they will miss it in the rush to receive the things of this life. But there it is, set before us, just as it was set before our Lord Jesus, Himself.
Praise God, He was willing to endure all things to receive the joy that was set before Him. Now, because He persevered, His joy may be ours as well, as we run with patience the race that is set before us.

May the joy of the Lord be yours this Christmas Season!