Choose to be joyful

Many of our churches are celebrating Advent as they are counting down to Christmas. This Sunday, our topic is Joy. Sometimes we confuse joy with happiness. No one is happy all the time. I once read that the record for smiling was 10 hours. When I worked retail jobs, I would have managers remind me to smile, has anyone told you to smile lately? Someone said that happiness happens, and that joy is a condition of the heart. I believe that we can learn to be joyful.

I wrote an Advent sermon about Joy in which I took the letters of the word "Joyful' and made an acrostic. Starting with the letter "J," my first point is that Jesus is our source of joy. When the angel appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of the Messiah, he said, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." Luke 2:10. I write about Jesus in my columns because I believe he is for all people.

I often tell my congregation, "Jesus loves you just the way you are, and he loves you too much to leave you in that condition." Many people fear that they must be good enough before they can make a commitment to follow Christ. The Bible indicates that we are saved by grace through faith, and it is Christ who enables us to fulfill God's righteous standards.

The letter "O" in Joyful stands for Obedience. When we obey the commands of our Lord, we experience joy. From the moment of the resurrection, Jesus' disciples have been commanded to go to all the nations and make disciples. Matthew 28:18-20 says:

Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

"Y" stands for You. Joy is a personal choice, you must choose joy. Two songs come to my mind when I think about choosing joy. One is "I Choose Joy," by Larnelle Harris. It was released in 1992. In the chorus, he states, "I choose joy, I'll never let the problems keep me down, cause the Lord is working all things out for my good, I choose joy." The second song is "joy" by King and Country. It was released in 2018 and has an upbeat tempo. While the song also describes difficulties in life, the chorus declares, "I choose joy."

The letter "F" stands for Faith. A lot of people talk about having faith. It may be that they have faith in faith, or faith in a feeling. It is as though they believe their fate is left up to chance and they are hoping for good luck. When we speak of biblical faith, we are referring to faith in someone -- faith in God. People who trust God can be joyful in all circumstances.

The letter "U" stands for Understand. We are to understand the reason to be joyful. Again, we are not speaking of a feeling that comes and goes, but a state of mind that comes from knowing God and having a personal relationship with him through Christ.

And finally, the letter "L." This stands for Live a joyful Christian life. Philippians 4:4-7 states this principle: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The shortest verse in the Greek New Testament is translated, "Rejoice always," 1 Thessalonians 5:16 ESV. In other words, be joyful.