Joy To The World

Every year I have the intention of focusing on the spiritual significance of the holiday and every year it proves to be a struggle. I never did manage to get an Advent wreath and candles put together this year, but I did rediscover the beauty of a classic Christmas song: Joy to the World.
As you read the lyrics below, try to do so with fresh eyes (meaning do your best not to mentally hum the tune) and think about the message.

Joy to the World
by Isaac Watts

Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n, and nature sing.

Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

As I was reading, I couldn't help but notice how much of it applied not only to Christ's first coming at birth, but also His second coming. As monumental as Jesus' birth was, His return will be an equally unparalled event and one of great joy for His followers.

I was reading about redemption the other day and how it is both a present and future reality for God's people. Jesus' birth brought us the possibility of being truely redeemed and His return will usher in the completion of redemption. The Bible speaks of the whole of creation crying out for redemption because since the Fall of man everything exists under the curse. This song seems to give us a picture of what that might be like; heaven, nature, and mankind rejoicing. Joy, blessings, truth, and grace. What a picture! When redemption comes it will reach "far as the curse is found" and that really will bring "joy to the world." Merry Christmas!!

5 Minutes With Me

Discipleship Journal magazine recently started a new feature in which they conduct a five minute interview with a Christian author, speaker, etc. As I was reading in a recent issue I started wondering how I would answer the questions asked of the interviewee...so I decided to find out by asking and answering the questions right here. (the questions are paraphrased to avoid any "issues")

Q: What have you been learning from God lately?
A: I feel like I've been getting some answers to questions I've been wrestling with over the past few months regarding the character of God...things about God's goodness and the way He works in our lives. I feel like I was getting to a "make or break" point in some ways, but God has been faithful to give me what I need to know. This is not always everything I want to know, but it's enough.
I've also been working on a Bible study about contentment, so I'm learning about that and the thought process necessary for a life of contentment.

Q: What's the most important thing you've learned about following God?
A: Grace. Not only am I "saved by grace," but I must walk in grace. Anything good that I have or am is by the grace of God. Jesus summed it up well when He said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing."

Q: How do you keep spending time with God from getting dull?
A: I gave up trying to have a "quiet time." Before you label me a heretic, let me explain. No where in Scripture are we told to have a "quiet time." We are told to know and meditate on God's Word and to pray. Well, there's more than one way to do this. Do I read and study God's Word? You bet. Do I spend a certain amount of time during a certain time of day doing this? Nope, and I no longer feel guilty for that. There's nothing wrong with having a schedule and sticking to it, but if you don't or can't, it doesn't mean you're a bad Christian.
Also, on a more practical level, I've been reading up on various spiritual disciplines and am slowly trying to implement more into my life.

Q: Who has been influential to your spiritual growth?
A: My family. That would be the place I first learned the fear of the Lord. :) I also had a great-grandmother that was a real prayer warrior. That leaves an impression. My pastor, who is an excellent teacher of the Word. In a broader sense, I would say many Christian authors/writers, because I love to read and God has used them to teach me a great deal.

Q: Do you have a mentor now?
A: No...other than those writers/authors I mentioned above. I think I would benefit greatly from a mentoring and/or accountability type relationship though.

Q: If you could experience an event from the Bible, which would you choose?
A: Hmmm...there's so many to choose from. I think I would choose to see Jesus in action, teaching and healing people.

Q: What do you think people would be surprised to know about you?
A: Probably how sensitive I am to certain things and how much I do care about other people. I'm just not always good at expressing it, at least not in a way that makes sense to other people.

Q: Someday I would like to...
A: ummm...be normal, see Israel, play guitar, and mostly be able to look back and see that I made a difference somehow, in some way, in somebody's life.

So, how would you answer any or all of these questions?

Questions

I've struggled over the past few months with aspects of God's character, specifically His goodness. I've wrestled to understand what exactly it means that God is good and what that means for our lives. What can we expect from God? What can we pray for? I have recently begun to feel that I'm getting some answers to my questions. During this time several books landed in my lap through no real choice of mine (they were not on my wishlist) that in one way or another addressed these questions. Coincidence? Not likely.

One author's words seemed to jump off the page at me, and while not directly answering my questions, spoke to the topic of "questioning" itself. To paraphrase/quote:

"Give up excessive questioning and reasoning. We are not going to figure God out completely. Our job is not to understand God, but to trust and obey Him. Trust always requires unanswered questions."

This got me thinking. Was I guilty of excessive questioning and reasoning?? Probably. I was trying to understand God completely, forgetting the limits of my finite mind. I wanted a detailed rationale for His actions. I'm the kind of person that likes to understand things. I want to know that I "get" it, especially when it comes to matters involving God. This is not a totally bad thing but something that must be kept in check because knowing about God can easily get in the way of knowing God. And if I was forced to choose, I would want the relationship rather than the tidy theological treatises.

That being said, I don't think it's wrong to seek answers, afterall, we are told in the Bible that the Spirit will lead us into all truth. But there is a point at which our questioning becomes excessive. We then refuse to act on what we know because of what we don't know. This seems to be the point that some people walk away from the faith unfortunately. They decide they simply cannot live with the tension of trusting a God they don't fully understand. (But that's another post!!)

So, I guess I'm learning (slowly) that I have to make peace with the reality that some questions will not be completely answered this side of heaven. They may not even be answered on the other side of heaven! My decision becomes painfully simple at that point: either I'm going to choose to trust God OR I'm not.

I hope this post doesn't seem pessimistic because as I said earlier I do feel like I'm getting some answers but I'm also learning to let go of my demand to know everything before moving forward.