A Season of WaitingSample

A Joy That Lasts Longer Than Christmas Lunch

Week 3 of Advent draws on the ancient prophesy of the Messiah’s birth. For generations, God’s people eagerly anticipated the arrival of their deliverer. They lived in an expectant joy that transcended the fleeting emotions of happiness or optimism.

This week invites us to take a sacred pause from our heaving social calendars and end-of-year commitments. A reprieve from a world being drowned by temporary pleasures and rushed schedules. Advent invites us to recentre our hearts on the miracle we’ve been waiting for – the arrival of Jesus, God with us. Both then and yet to come.

CS Lewis wrote, ‘Joy is the serious business of heaven’. He posits that genuine joy is absent in the fickle, temporary trends and fascinations of our day. Joy is heaven’s core business. We will only find lifelong, generationally transforming joy when we’re in God’s presence. When God is with us. Even better, heaven takes joy so seriously that the mere anticipation of being near our Father brings joy! Heaven’s joy is immune to the constraints of time and the tempests of our days.

Just as Isaiah declared his joy generations ahead of Jesus’ birth, our joy compounds each day that we draw closer to Jesus’ promise to take us home.

This week let’s remind each other that joy isn’t a marketing tool for kitchen appliances, tools, and toys. It will only be found when we accept God’s offer to ‘be with us’. Immanuel.

Written by Dwayne Jeffries