Joy to the World

Joy to the world! the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King;
Let ev-‘ry heart pre-pare Him room,
And heav’n and na-ture sing, And heav’n and na-ture sing,
And heav’n, and heav’n and na-ture sing.

We sing this familiar song each Christmas season with not much thought to the meaning of the words. But listening to the song blasting from my radio, my mind and attention focused on the lyrics. Joy to the world! the Lord is come! This declaration brings good news. The Lord’s coming brought joy to this world. The world received the great gift of joy… right?

So why does this world lack joy? Why is there more sadness and despondency than joyful celebration? Why do some people experience this joy but others lack it? After contemplating this for a few minutes, the Holy Spirit revealed the answer.

First of all, a lot of people mistake happiness for joy. Happiness depends on circumstances. When things go well, happiness prevails. But joy resides in spite of unhappy circumstances. When your world falls apart, when you remain calm in the midst of the storms, when you face trials with peace that goes beyond comprehension, when you can stand and say, “It is well with my soul,” that’s when you experience true joy.

The problem lies not in the absence of joy… after all, the joy did come. It’s the acceptance of the joy. The Lord’s birth offered joy to the entire world. But the world lacks this special gift simply because it refuses to receive her King. The world refuses to accept and receive Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus brought joy, but in order to receive and experience it, you must receive Him. No Jesus… no joy!

And in order to receive Jesus, you must prepare room in your heart for Him to reside. He will not force His way in, so your heart must be made ready to receive Him. I mean, we prepare room in our hearts for everything else… man made idols, the world’s standards, and our own fleshly desires. By doing so, we leave little or no room for Jesus, and yet, we wonder why we lack peace and joy.

Confessing your sin nature and acknowledging Him as your sin bearer and Savior prepares your heart. Every person who prepares Him room receives and experiences this joy, but those who deny Him and close their hearts to Him forfeit this precious gift.

When the angel of the Lord announced Jesus to the shepherds, the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people” (Luke 2:10). So this is not just any old kind of joy, but unspeakable great joy! Just imagine what this world would look like if every heart prepared Him room and this great joy got unleashed. Heaven and nature would truly sing!

As you go about this Christmas season, be sure you prepared Him room in your heart. Think about someone who lacks this gift and needs to prepare Him room. Share this gift of great joy with them. The more hearts that receive Him, the more joy in the world.

I don’t know about you, but in my lifetime, I’ve gone through many storms, trials, heartaches and pain. I prepared Him room in my heart years ago, so I experienced His joy in the midst of them all. And as life continues, I will need that same gift given so long ago when Jesus came to give great joy to the entire world. And great joy comes from knowing that His Joy will always be available for me. Why? Simply…

Merry Christmas and Great Joy in the New Year!