The fourth Advent candle reflects joy. It might seem like joy is just another candle in a 4-part Advent series, but, every advent candle has been building up to joy.
HOPE for joy. PREPARE for joy. LOVE one another with joy. Luke 2:8-14 says: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Have you ever thought deeply about that piece of the Christmas story? Why does THE Christmas story make this pit stop in a field of sheep to put on what is possibly the first Christmas pageant ever - real-life heavenly angels and all. A show, for a bunch of shepherds. There was a day – many of them really - when I was the shepherd. I spent a lot of time alone wondering if this is as good as life gets. Am I going to spend my whole life dirty and poor and hanging out with a bunch of sheep? Unsatisfied with the answers, I chased joy in a lot of different places. Many of those places were unhealthy places. And even when I chased joy in relatively healthier places, I’d get there only to find a sign pointing to another more satisfying level of joy: one promotion pointed me to the next promotion, one relationship pointed me to another that looked better, the rented house pointed me to the one I could own. Through it all, through all the chasing, I never found a joy that stuck. Joy was always a moving and slippery target. I’d get my hands on it for a moment, then it would slip away. And the chase was on again. Then one day I discovered something. While I was chasing joy, God was chasing me. No matter where I went he remained in relentless pursuit. One day I stopped chasing joy long enough to turn around, to face Him, to listen to what he had to say. And he said: Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Do you know that is what Christmas is all about? It is about stopping us in our tracks, turning us around long enough to discover God is pursuing us. As far as we’re willing to go to chase a false sense of joy God’s willing to chase us to deliver good news of a GREAT joy. He stopped the shepherds in their tracks to say, even you guys, regarded as one of the lowest forms of life, I’m chasing you fellas. You have a lifetime role in the original Christmas story. He stopped THEM to let US know, no matter how low a life form we get to feeling we are, He’s chasing us down with that Christmas story. So maybe this Christmas season, ask yourself – where am I chasing joy? And maybe consider stopping right where you are and letting God catch you. The greatest joy of my life came the day I stopped and turned around and saw a persistent God still standing there, after all I’d done, hardly out of breath from His pursuit, looking at me with love and not judgment, busting at the seems to tell me, I bring you good news of great joy. On our way to Bethlehem, I hope you experience this great joy. I hope you believe it’s not a joy we chase, but a joy we get chased with. Let it catch you this Christmas. Let that baby in a manger have all of you. And discover - great joy.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
February 2025
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