Talking about Advent: Joy

The third week of advent focuses on joy. Like last week, joy builds upon both peace and hope.

Joy is often defined very similarly to happiness, and many people take happiness to mean one must always smile, never admit if something is wrong, and more or less be a bubbly person. However, this doesn’t reflect reality; there is sadness and grief, there’s stress, but the Bible says regardless of how we might feel in the moment, we can still have a deep joy, or contentment. Romans 14:17 describes how peace and joy are related and important: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Here Paul links together peace and joy, and there are passages that list joy as a fruit of the Spirit, or something that every Christian should practice. Romans 12:15 says, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep,” and Romans 12:12 says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” [emphasis added] Based upon  these two verses it’s clear  joy isn’t a cherry on top of life but something deeper. We are asked to rejoice in hope, so our hope in God is the source of our joy. The first verse we looked at repeated that, calling the joy a “joy in the Holy Spirit”.

This joy is deeper because it is not swayed by mere feelings or situations. The source of our joy is God, and more specifically, hope and peace in His promises. Many Greek lexicons site joy in connection with grace, understanding the fullness of grace grants joy. However, what is grace? Grace is something that God promised to us through the work of Jesus Christ. Therefore, as we ponder how we get joy, it’s clear that hope in God’s promises gives us both peace and joy.

One way to describe joy to children is a contentment in their circumstances. Contentment is the opposite of complaining. Take the time to not assume your child understands what contentment or complaining is. Complaining is to “express dissatisfaction or annoyance about a state of affairs or an event” [Webster dictionary]; contentment is being satisfied in what you have. One example that can help children understand is being thankful in everything they possess. Paul is a good example of contentment. He says: “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” [Philippians 4:11-13, emphasis added] If you go through Acts with your child, it’s easy to point out how often the disciples, whether it’s Paul, Peter, Philip, James, or someone else, did not have an easy life spreading the gospel, but they still believed and rejoiced many times. When Paul was in prison with Silas, they spent their time praying and singing hymns to God. [Acts 16:25-40] Most people would not be rejoicing, but Paul and Silas found it in them to sing praises to God in this time.

As far as a personal example for a child, Christmas is coming, and many children want a great many things for Christmas. An example of contentment would be to be thankful to their parents and grandparents, the gift givers, no matter what presents were given, even if there aren’t many or they aren’t exactly what they wanted. An example of complaining would be telling their parents that they are upset because they didn’t get as many presents as they wanted or they really something else instead.

Some things that can help a child practice contentment and joy is writing down every day something they are thankful for. Honestly, it’s a great practice for any Christian, young or old, to take time to thank God daily for the things we have. It’s easy for adults to forget how many blessings God has heaped upon us, and as parents, we should be a good example to our children of how to be joyful even in difficult circumstances. Another great way to focus on contentment is to stress the importance of saying thank-you to one another. Every time your child helps you or brings you something, you say thank-you. And vice versa, every time you help your child or you bring them something, they should say thank-you. This provides multiple opportunities throughout the day to express thankfulness.