“Joy to the world, the Lord is come”—words so familiar to us, they’re almost trite; almost meaningless. But when was the last time any of us pondered the profound significance behind those earth-shattering, paradigm-breaking, history-shaking words?
As a journalist, I have spent the past several years covering politics in America. This year alone, I have written upward of 400 articles, and I’ve picked up on a common thread in virtually all of them: hopelessness; despair; despondency. People are giving up on hope. They’re giving up on joy.
From a human perspective, joy to the world is an oxymoron. Especially in 2023. I mean, haven’t you heard?—the world is at war; our economy is in turmoil; the vast, vast majority of Americans feel pessimistic about the future; an estimated 50 percent of young people report feeling “down, depressed or hopeless”; and the number of youth who believe that life has no meaning has skyrocketed from roughly one in ten in the early 2000s to nine in ten less than two decades later.
That’s the reality of the world we live in, folks (and I’m afraid to say I may have downplayed the bleakness of it all). Joy to the world, indeed! What a joke! It’s a farce. Joy, in this world, is like a mocking mirage, a stinging delusion, a gaping, unfillable hole. Chase after it all your life, and you’ll still come up empty-handed.
But then again, the Author of our joy never promised enduring happiness would come from the world. In fact, He seemed to say the opposite: “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11), said Jesus. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (16:33).
So, either peace and hope and joy are gifts—gifts from heaven—or they do not exist at all. In other words, we cannot manufacture them. We cannot forge them. We cannot extract them from the tear-stained ground on which we stand. They are, indeed, nowhere to be found—unless, of course, an infinitely good Father from heaven chooses to gift them to us. And that’s exactly what He’s done.
Joy—in short supply everywhere else—exists in abundance in our Father’s kingdom. “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,” says Paul in Romans. In recounting the life of Jesus, John echoes the words of his Master and says, “And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”
He does not dole it out sparingly. The Father’s Christmas gift to us is the fullness of joy, which could only ever come in the person of Jesus Christ. Joy to the world is a gift from heaven; the Father’s gift to a people whom He loved enough to send His only son. And in this day and age, what a gift it is!
As we step into a new year with new challenges, may we each discover, embrace, and spread joy—no matter how hopeless 2024 may seem.
