Joy To The World.

That sounds like a tall order these days, doesn't it? With so much happening around our globe, how could we ever find so much joy?

The tragedy in Paris. The shootings. The murders. The crime. The violence. The heartbreak. This world is so messed up; certainly lacking in joy, it seems.

Yet we sing it every year: "Joy To The World."

And oh, the holiday season. It's hard on so many. Those walking through loss or sickness or sorrow can feel so lonely during these weeks when the world is celebrating all around them, totally unaware of the pain they're in.

Yet we keep singing: "Joy To The World."

So let me be the one to pose the question: Where is this joy when life seems to fall apart? When your friend is in the hospital barely hanging on to life? When your beloved family member suddenly isn't there and you're left with an empty seat around the table for Christmas dinner? When you pray for healing and it doesn't come? When evil strikes and destroys a city? When guns are shot and bombs go off and innocent people die without reason?

Where is this joy when nothing seems to go right and life just feels so... empty, so dark, so dull?

Well, my friends, if you're asking those questions this season, I'm right there with you. But the answer is clear.

This Joy that we sing about every December? It hasn't left. No, just the opposite.

This Joy that we sing about is here to stay--even when it hurts, even when it's hard. This Joy remains.

That's the Christmas story in a nutshell, isn't it? That there is One who loved us enough to send His Son down to Earth as a mere babe--the Son Of God who took on flesh to prove His affection for us. Because of His great love, we have Joy everlasting.

Because of the Hope He brings, we have Joy everlasting.
Because of Who He is, we have Joy everlasting.

It's a choice. It's a fight.

Every day, we must wake up and decide to fight for joy, decide that fighting off the darkness is worth it. Day after day, the choice must be made: Do I settle for the despair that seems to be closing in around us all, or do I fight back with the Joy that came down to rescue us on that chilly Christmas evening?

It won't be easy, but it will always be worth it, I promise.

So may we choose joy. Both today and every day.
May we believe with everything in us that the Joy He brings is stronger than any death, any sickness, any sorrow, any evil, any trial that comes against us. May we choose joy because we know that that was the reason He came.

Joy To The World. The Lord Is Come.