What I Really Want for Christmas is…
Elliott and I have been married so long we no longer hint about what we want for Christmas. Early in our marriage we would play the hint game. Sometime after Thanksgiving, we would start dropping subtle and, sometimes, not so subtle hints, about what we wanted. Now, we just tell each other, “This is what I want for Christmas.” We might even point to a picture in a catalog or bring it up on our iPhone.
To be honest with you, I wasn’t very good at the hinting game to start with. Very early in our marriage, we were in the kitchen preparing supper, and Elliott, almost under her breath, said something like, “I sure wish I had a good frying pan.” Hint! I surmised. So, what did I do? I gave her a frying pan for Christmas. When she opened her present that Christmas morning, the look on her face was something between disbelief and heartbreak. Then there was the Christmas I gave her a new rod and reel. But it’s better to leave that for another day.
So, can I just tell you what I want for Christmas? It’s not something I can show you in a catalog or on the internet. In fact, what I sincerely want is not something you can buy me, or make for me, or give me. In truth, what I want is a priceless gift of God. And not to give the impression I’m thinking only about myself, what I want is something I want just as badly for you. I want JOY! And the joy I want is a specific kind of joy. It’s the joy of the Lord. It’s spiritual joy. We might call it Christmas joy. It’s the joy that was announced by the angel on the night Jesus was born. – the Good News joy that his coming birthed into the world and into those who are birthed of the Spirit by faith in him.
In the Gospel according to Luke we find this thrilling detail: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:8-14).
This great joy the angel announced that is caused by, or created by, or found in the Good News of Jesus, the Christ – that’s the JOY I want for me and for you. And I’ll tell you why: The evidence tells me that we have so little of it when there’s so much of it to be had and experienced every day. And although I called it Christmas joy, it’s not a seasonal disposition or display, like decorations we put up and then take down during the Christmas Season. The joy of the Lord is a promised and permanent grace of the Holy Spirit’s presence and peace in those who believe, or as the angel put it: to those on whom his favor rests.
Although this spiritual joy is an inward grace, it is not given to us to be hidden, or stored-away, or concealed like a secret weapon to be pulled out during a battle, or a mysterious treasure we keep in the strongbox of our souls – an asset we don’t want to spend unless we get desperate. True spiritual joy will find a way to be expressed; it will show on our faces; it will be conveyed in our conversations; it will be sounded in our laughter; it will be voiced in our singing the songs of joy; it will be demonstrated in the way we go about our daily duties and our devotion to the Lord; and it will shine the brightest in our darkest days and in our deepest sorrows. Joy does not deny tears. It more often produces tears!
This is the joy I want for you and for me – not the fake joy, or false joy, or the fleeting joy that so many of us in the church today seem to possess or pursue – the kind of joy the whole world seems to pursue – the kind of joy that is based on pleasures and treasures, on incomes and outcomes, on winning and losing. The joy that lasts is the joy that can only come as a gift from God through our faith in the Lord Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
There are at least three spiritual practices that will surely increase and fill our life with joy:
The first practice is to simply enjoy the Lord. The Westminster Shorter Catechism famously states: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Has it ever even crossed your mind that you might enjoy God? To enjoy the Lord implies a deep abiding joy in your relationship with God and your fellowship with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To enjoy the Lord is to enjoy all the blessings and benefits of that God-man relationship – to see Him as your all in all. Paul instructed Timothy in the role of pastoring his people. He wrote in I Timothy 6:17: Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Are you enjoying God and all the blessings of life in Christ? Have you taken hold of the life that is truly life? The ways we may enjoy the Lord and the life that is truly life are endless.
The Second Practice is to rejoice in the Lord – always! It’s interesting what Paul wrote to the Philippians and how he said it. In Philippians 4:4 he wrote: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! This is an imperative, a command-like exhortation to express joy in the Lord. It is so imperative that he says it twice! And when are we to rejoice? Always! Not just when we feel like it. To be a consistently outwardly joyful Christian is something we must practice and practice and practice some more. To rejoice is a choice we make over and over again.
The Third Practice is to be joyful in hope. If you want a justification for joy, here it is. In Romans 12:12, Paul, again, commands us: Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Yes. It’s true. We live in a fallen, broken, sin-sick world of sorrows and suffering, of wars and woes, of depravity, disasters, and death, but, still, there’s hope – hope imbodied in the Lord Jesus, the babe of Bethlehem, in his death on the cross, his glorious resurrection, and his promised return.
This is what I want for Christmas for me and for you. I want that joy that Peter describes in I Peter 1:8-9: Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
In the story of Christ’s birth, we’re all innkeepers. Let’s be sure to make room in our hearts to receive him and receive the joy he came to give us.