In The Light of JOY!

I was at awe as I slipped out the back door at 4:30 this morning, so that Fiver could attend to his business… and looked up at the beautiful sight on display over our backyard.  It had rained throughout the day and evening yesterday and I expected the sky in the predawn hour to be overcast and gloomy.  But what a surprise!  Even though there were still a few clouds in the sky, the rest of it was crystal clear, bright and literally filled with incredibly lustrous stars!  In the four years that we have lived here… I have NEVER seen the nighttime skies as bright and sharp as they were this morning!

Whenever I gaze upon the celestial heavens, I am always reminded of my sweet wife and how she liked to point out the different constellations to me when we took walks at night.  And while that was the immediate memory that came to mind this morning, I was moreover drawn into the thought of Jesus’ birth in that little town of Bethlehem and found myself wondering if the sky that night, so many thousands of years ago, was as bright and sharp as this one that lit up our backyard.

That question and the beautiful picture that had unfolded in the skies before us earlier in the morning, came knocking on the door of my heart as I sat down for my morning Bible study time a couple of hours later.  So, I followed that leading and turned in my Bible to the story of that first Christmas as recorded in the book of Luke.  But in order to bring more context into the events that happened on the night of our Savior’s birth, I had to go back in time about nine months or so, when the angel of the Lord first appeared to a young teenage girl and brought some startling and life-changing news!  Luke 1:26-31 tells us all about it and recorded the event declaring,

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” (EMTV)

The story of these initial events of Christ’s birth continues on for another eight verses, but for the purpose of today’s post, I wanted to focus in on one important revelation that came forth in my study of this story.

I have always been amazed that out of all the Jewish women in the world, that God set His sights on that young teenage girl Mary, to be the mother of the incarnate son of God.  Most Bible scholars and historians place Mary’s age to be between 12-15 years old.  And as I pondered that fact once more this year, I noticed that the phrases “highly favored” and “thou hast found favor with God” are used when the angel addressed Mary and told her of God’s plan for her life.

Both of the words translated “favor” come from the same Greek base word meaning,

“That which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech; grace and joy and the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.”*

Now, I have to admit that I was a little taken by surprise at what popped into my head as I studied these definitions.  I have always thought of God looking at we, His children, through the eyes of compassion and grace… but I had never really contemplated the idea of God… along with compassion and grace… looking at us… at me… with JOY!

It is a lot easier to think of ourselves as not being perfect and as not always hitting the mark of excellence in our lives and KNOWING that God’s compassion and grace are always available to us!  But these verses seem to imply that God choose Mary because she and the life she lived, brought JOY to His heart!  In others words, He looked upon her and choose her because of what she did RIGHT… which in His eyes… most likely over-rode the mistakes she may have made in her young life!

So… if I read this right… God is telling us to see ourselves and to live our lives more through His loving eyes of JOY…LIKE HE DOES… than in self-condemnation and doubt over the mistakes we might make.  I John 4:17 confirms this idea and tells us that,

“God's love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. (for) While we are in this world, we are exactly like Him with regard to love.”

So… if God loves us and sees us through in light of the JOY that we bring to Him… shouldn’t we love ourselves and see ourselves in the light of JOY as well?

The angels of the Lord that lit up the night sky with the glory of God, told the shepherds tending to their flocks on the night of Jesus’ birth that,

“…I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with JOY.” (Luke 2:10 – God’s Word ©)

And with that in mind… I’ll leave with a thought to ponder as we celebrate Christmas and the birth of the baby Jesus… “Does my life bring forth a message of JOY in the lives of those I love?”

If not… or if you’re not sure…then maybe you need to start seeing yourself in the same light of JOY that Jesus looks upon you with!

Have a fun and JOY-filled weekend as you continue making your final preparations for the celebration of HIS JOY that came on that star-studded bright and shiny night so long ago!

 

*Strongs and Thayer’s