Skip to main content

Advent Week III - A Living Testament of His Joy, by the Lightstock Team

By Anonymous
     One of the best things about the Christmas season is the way anticipation builds for the big day. From the moment Thanks­giving ends, the countdown to Christmas officially begins. And the closer and closer it gets to the actual day, the more and more we anticipate with excitement what Christmas morning will actually bring. In other words, our expectations for joy are high. And as the anticipation builds, so does the joy we look forward to feeling.
     The people of God looked forward to that first Christmas with a similar anticipation, but what they were anticipating was much greater than any present we might be hoping to find awaiting us this year. They’d long been waiting for a Savior to come, and as news spread that He might have finally arrived, their anticipation grew to new heights. And when they knew that Jesus, the One whose arrival they’d anticipated for hundreds of years, was born that Christmas morning, their joy was endless.
     While we can’t imagine what it must have felt like for the people back then to know that the King they’d been promised had finally come, we can share in their joy this Advent season. For just as God filled their hearts with His joy, He can fill ours with the same. And His joy—a deep, unmatchable, life-changing joy—is better than anything else we might be anticipating this Christmas season.
     As Advent moves on, ask God to fill your hearts with joy. Focus your anticipation on the celebration of His birth. And, ask Him to make your life a living testament of His joy this Christmas.
  • What’s one thing you’re anticipating with excitement this holi­day season? 
  • What do you think real joy feels like? How is it different than happiness?
  • What’s one way you can find the joy of Christ this Christmas? How can you help others experience that same joy?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflective Glory: How the Moon Displays the Mercy of God

By
Our sun is a fitting metaphor for the glory of God. In the context of our solar system, it is massive, bright, beautiful, powerful, self-sufficient, heat-producing, life-giving, and dangerous. It is, by far, the dominant feature of our solar system and without it the system would fling apart and all living things therein would die.  On the other hand, our moon is a fitting metaphor for human beings, especially for those who believe in Jesus Christ. First, compared to the sun, the moon is tiny and dim. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon, its mass is 27 million times greater than the mass of the moon, and from our perspective its light shines 450,000 times brighter than that of the moon. The sun is so much greater than the moon that it’s difficult to quantify and express the difference. Likewise, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is so much great than each and all of us that it’s impossible to quantify or express the difference. Indeed, the Lord is very great and greatly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Update on Sarah Fergus

By
Here is an update that we just sent to our church regarding Sarah Fergus who is heading off soon to serve the Lord in Madagascar. If you're interested in helping Sarah, please write me a note and I'll be glad to pass it on to her. One way or the other, please join us in prayer! Dear Glory of Christ Fellowship, Thank you for all your prayers in the last few weeks. I have been very encouraged by many of you on Sunday mornings and after visiting several community groups. This church really is a blessing to me as I am being constantly reminded that I am not alone in this. One huge praise is that in the last week I was pledged about half of what I still needed for monthly support! Reminder of dates: Dec 13th is when I need financial clearance. Jan 8th is my planned departure date. Finance Update: Total amount still needed per month: $279 Breakdown: 6 people at $50 a month 12 people at $25 a month Please continue to keep this in prayer for the next few weeks. I also have a lot to...
Post a Comment
Read more

When Children Say "I'm Bored" By Julie Lowe

By
This Article is written by Julie Lowe and was originally posted on the CCEF blog.  I highlighted the areas of particular interest. I had already prepared a blogpost on dealing with boredom from a Christian worldview and then came across this. There is much overlap between the two, perhaps this one is more concise while my work attempts to explain the connection between the ability to think and the ability to be happy. You can visit the original blogpost in the link provided below.  https://www.ccef.org/resources/blog/children-say-im-bored   We have a common crisis in our home; it is the calamity of boredom. Our children might even consider it a catastrophe. “I’m bored” is repeated so often it would not be an overstatement to say that these words echo continuously throughout our home especially during any break from school. These are children with limited media time but still children with a Wii and Xbox system, a pool outside our door, multiple games, toy...
Post a Comment
Read more