In four days, we will be celebrating Christmas day. For some of us, this means focusing purely on the secular part of Christmas with Santa Clause, presents, and all the other secular things we do. For others, the focus is solely on the birth of Jesus with a birthday cake for Him and everything. Still others combine both the secular and Christian celebrations to create their Christmas traditions
There is no right or wrong way to celebrate Christmas. It was once a pagan holiday after all. But, what about celebrating the joy Christmas brings? Let’s dive deeper than the secular way of celebrating. Let’s go beyond the birth of our Lord and Savior. Let’s look within our own salvation.
My ex-husband once preached a sermon titled, “The Joy of My Salvation.” I think it was probably one of my favorites he ever preached. Even today, I find myself thinking of that phrase and pausing myself to get right in the joy department.
You see, we go through life blind at first because we don’t know any better. When a chance to know Christ personally comes along, it may take a few visits before we accept Him, not just into our homes, but into our lives and hearts. Accepting Christ is more than a fire insurance plan. It’s a full three-sixty change of life.
So many of us accept Him and then go along our merry way, not changing anything about ourselves. The more we travel down our same ole’ path of life, the more we don’t understand what accepting Him means and there’s less chance to experience true joy.
Then there’s someone like me. It’s taken me quite awhile, but I finally found the path of pure joy in Christ. I accepted Him when I was eighteen. I married a Christian man and did my best to live what I could of a Christian life. There were a lot of potholes, bumps, and boulders along the way.
Ironically, it took leaving that marriage and going through some other major life things for me to start to gain an understanding of true joy of myself, which in turn translated into joy of my salvation. I have begun to truly take everything to God. I have begun to practice having a little more faith than I once did. I have begun to operate with love when it comes to dealing with others. I am embracing who I am supposed to be in Christ.
I am not perfect. I have my faults, but I know God will see me through even those moments because He knows me better than anyone on this earth does. I don’t have to wonder if I’m loved and accepted because I already know that I am by Him.
I have found the joy of my salvation. How about you? What level is your joy tank at? Is it near empty? How can you fill it up? Is it hovering in the middle? What do you need to fill it up the rest of the way? Let God be the one to fill your joy tank. He’s been waiting since you were created to do so.
**For my readers: Every Sunday, I personally send my blog out to several people. I’m glad so many people enjoy reading my words, but one of the main purposes of creating a blog was to gain subscribers to my website. In today’s publishing world, it is left to the author to do most, if not all, the marketing. So, this will be the last blog I send via text. If you want to continue reading my blogs, please subscribe below to receive them. I am taking a break from blogging on the last Sunday of the year, but starting the first Sunday in January, my blogs would be sent directly to your email if you subscribe.
Thank you for reading!
K Greene