The why of Christmas Words:Joy, Peace, Hope, Love

Christmas is almost upon us which makes it time for my yearly note on Christmas. The last couple of years I have talked about why Christmas and the fact of a relationship with Jesus. This year I decided to talk about some of the words associated with Christmas. In most Christmas displays and books on Christmas you see some certain words: Joy, Peace, Hope, Love. 

    Love comes from the fact that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten-or born-son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. And that God showed His great love toward us while we were yet enemies of God Christ died for us. The Just for the Unjust. God is Love and even though we-each one of us-blew it and became separated from God, He still wants us back and decided to do whatever it took to allow us the choice of forgiveness and a right relationship with Him.

   Hope comes from the fact that God loves each one of us. It matters not what we have done, how many times we have done it, or what was done to us. God is good at wiping away tears and healing our inner hurts and emotional issues. Again it doesn’t matter who we are, what we have done-or not done. God, The Creator, Loves You. He proved it in a simple way everyone can see and understand. And God gives us second chances in our lives. There is a judgement coming for He is the perfect Judge, but He has given us a way to be declared innocent and to skip the judgement. God is Love and will heal and forgive you. 

   Peace. Jesus said that He will gives us a peace that goes beyond understanding. It is there at all times and in all situations. God is there with you and is able to help in any situation. He is powerful, caring, all knowing and able to heal and help. He knows what we need, He knows our hearts and He is with us. That last is part of the Christmas message. God with us. As a people-as humankind, but also He is with us individually. Once we have the forgiveness for our sins He offers, we can know His peace and Know He Is With Us.

   Joy. This comes from a personal relationship with God. Jesus was born on the day we celebrate as Christmas, a very important event worthy of celebration. But He came to live as a perfect Human-He put aside His God powers and walked as a man. He then not only taught us about God and did wonderful things, but He died as an innocent man in our place. Each of our places. This wonderful gift brings Joy unspeakable. I have experienced this Joy and know how much above happiness it is. It is good to be happy, but this is above that. You can have this Joy in any circumstances, even in hurt, and trouble. It comes from Hope which I mentioned already, from knowing God is with us and from Jesus Himself. He promised to give us Joy and He keeps His promises.    

    The promise of Christmas is great and wonderful. Love for the whole world-love for each of us individually makes it fantastic. The promise that God is with us makes live worth living even if we feel the opposite. The promise, that came later, that Jesus would die for us thereby showing His great Love and allowing us forgiveness of sin and right standing with God gives us Hope. For salvation but for a changed live and healing also. Joy and Peace follow those like puppy dogs can follow their master. 

It is easy to believe this even if we think it isn’t. You really are one step away from this forgiveness and right standing with God and a healing relationship with Jesus. Tell God what you want, tell Him of your doubts, of your pain, of your sin. Even of your anger. He is a big God and knows how to deal with that too. 

There are churches, web sites, and individual people who can tell you more. The Bible is good for that too. 

Below are two places online where you can talk to people but there are a huge number of other places. 

Valley Christian Center 

A prayer for salvation

A Christmas message from Billy Graham    

New Year 2014--Joy, Hope, New Start

Now a few words about the New Year.

As the title of this says this post is about new beginnings along with Joy and Hope. Not everyone needs this but it’s still something I wanted to say.

Jesus Christ offers us all three of those things and more. God doesn’t hate any of use nor is He waiting to bash us over the head when we do wrong. My last post talks about how Christmas shows His love, followed by what we call Easter. His death and resurrection shows us His love and that He can be counted on.  And that He is the supplier of the fresh start many of us need.  

That is what the term Born Again is about. Starting new, starting fresh with right standing with God the Creator and with inner Joy and Hope. 

Here are links to three songs that share this idea in different ways. There are some ads either at the beginning or at the bottom, but you can ignore them and turn them off. 

Third Day  NewsBoys  Leon Patillo

There are many fine songs that explain this event but I didn’t want to get too carried away with song links so these three and this one that talks about how nothing can separate us from the love of God are ones that I thought would add to what I wanted to say here.

Chris Tomlin

God gives us all a second and even third and fourth chances. Failure isn’t good-it’s down right rotten-but it’s not the end either. God-Jesus-won’t stop loving us, won’t abandoned us, won’t turn His back, is there to help and save us. He wants to fill us with enough Joy to start dancing and Hope to know we can do it--we can live our lives with Him who saved us from sin and who we need to serve. 

Hope is there because God can not fail, turn from who He is and nothing can separate us from His love. Not death, angels, demons, or anything we do, or anything done to us. And He will be there for us. A big part of Christmas was God is with us. He is with us to help us change from the inside out, to guide us and to help Joy and Hope grow in us. Tell Him what you want and need, ask Him to be that for you to save you and to be with you. 

There is much more I could say but I hope this all gives you something to think about. 

One more link to a message by the pastor of my church Bill Chaney. It’s Rekindling the Radical Spirit of Foursquare part ten- it should be highlighted. The message if 49 minutes long but he talks about Joy what produces it and how to keep it among other stuff. 

About Joy