Advent – “Joy”
“Joy is at the heart of who God is and we will never understand the significance of joy in human life until we understand its importance to God!” G.K Chesterton
In his book Orthodoxy, G.K. Chesterton describes how the joy experienced by a child is just a fraction of the joy that exists at the heart of God. In one of the most beautiful pieces ever written, he says:
“Because children have a bounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again.” And the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead, for grown up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.”
But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. Is it possible that God says every morning, “Do it again!” to the sun, and every evening, “Do it again!” to the moon? It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike. It may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy, for we have sinned and grown old and our Father is younger than we.
We have sinned and grown old. I’ve thought about that statement again and again. We have sinned and grown old. We become jaded and tired. We live with a host of worries and irritations. Like old men and women the monotony grinds us to a halt. But our eternal God is like a child who says “Do it again!” Nothing is taken for granted though God has seen everything there is to see. He has knowledge of everything that has or will be known. And every day when the sun breaks our horizon, God gets excited like a little kid. Do it again! And if we’re not filled with awe and wonder and delight, it’s not because we have everything we need. It’s because we are broke.
We will never understand God until we come to realize that he is the happiest being in the universe; that joy is his basic character and his eternal destiny. Why does that matter? Jesus says:
I have told you these things so that you can have the same joy I have and so that your joy will be the fullest possible joy. – John 15:11 NCV
To miss out on joy is to miss out on the reason for your existence. May you know the joy that comes only through knowing the Savior of the world who authors this season.
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126:1-6; I Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28
