Real Joy—Where It Is Found!
Joy can be found in finding that which we have lost.
Joy can be found in searching and searching for something that was lost, finding that which was lost, and then shrieking aloud in joyful exclamation that the lost object has been found.
If you are like most of us (normal people), then you have lost some things (or feared you would lose these) during your lifetime. Over our lifetime, we—
- Feared losing our car keys.
- Feared losing our cellphones.
- Feared losing our jobs.
- Feared losing our children in a large crowd.
- Feared losing those we love to disease, sickness, or death.
- Feared losing our sense of belonging.
- Feared losing our future opportunities.
- Feared losing our chance to make a mark, a difference in this world.
- Even feared losing our seats in the family TV room when we were kids (unless we called out to anyone listening, “Dibs on my seat. Don’t take my seat. I will be right back,”)
- Then we preceded to make all the “necessary” stops during a long TV commercial break: Stop by the restroom, & then stop by the bedroom, followed by laps around the house to stretch our TV-fatigued body, stopping on the final lap by the kitchen for a snack, returning to the TV room to find our favorite seat claimed ALL NIGHT LONG remains open, saved—just as we exclaimed it should.
Yes, in life, we feared losing so much.
- Feared losing our youth.
- Feared losing our health.
- Feared losing our way, our “self-supposed” life-purpose.
- Feared losing those we love and being left all alone.
- And if we are truthful, we have even feared losing our minds at certain moments.
We have feared losing so much, but today, rather than staying focused upon what we fear, let us propose what would happen if instead—-We focused upon what has been found?!!!
What if we focused our minds upon what has been found? What if we have—
- Found rides to where we wish to go—Because God knew!
- Found conversations with those we love most—Because God knew!
- Found career changes that we did not realize we needed—But God knew!
- Found children to love, even when we had previously looked around our table and thought our family was complete—But God knew!
- Found health when we look around our families—And God knew!
- Found sense of having a belonging, a purpose for being needed, for being present, serving where we are placed—Because God knew!
- Found making significant differences in the opportunities God leads us to—Thank Goodness, God knew!
- Found family-nights shared sitting side-by-side inside a warm, dry, and safe home—Because God knew what we needed!
- Found youth and health—even when our youthful years seem long-gone and our body aches more each morning when we crawl from our beds—But again, God knew!
- Found NEW Life Purposes—as we (like Isaiah) willingly say, Yes LORD, “Here am I. Send me” (Isaiah 6:8)—BUT GOD KNEW!
- Found new people surrounding us—people we would have never known if we had stayed where we were (before we went)—BUT GOD KNEW!
Did we see the pattern?
We feared losing…
But God provided what He knew was lost & what needed to be found!
During this Christmas season, we often focus upon so much (because there is so much available to fill our minds), but what if we focus for one moment on what God knew Mary needed? What if we look for a moment at what God gave her to carry—Because He knew she would (just as we would too)—-Need A Savior!
Do not believe me but believe God’s Word.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the LORD; may it be done to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.”(Luke 1: 37-38)Jesus said. . .
THE PARABLE OF THAT WHICH WAS LOST
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders , rejoicing.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!”(Luke 15: 4-6)
And again Jesus said. . .
“Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!”(Luke 15: 8-9)
And then Jesus said. . .
“But he [the oldest son] answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;
But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.”
And he said to him [the son’s father said to his oldest son], “Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.
But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”(Luke 15: 29-32)
God knows who remains lost & that’s why He surrounds us with people.
God knows who needs to be found & that’s why He gives us relationships with others.
God knows we ALL HAVE THE SAME NEED—to be found by the SAVIOR—& that’s why God sent His Only Son to be born of the virgin Mary.
Jesus seeks until He finds that which is lost. Hallelujah!!!
When the one who is lost is found, Jesus picks up the one who was lost and lays him across His shoulders and carries him into God’s presence. Hallelujah!!!
We can search and search for real joy, but God knows Real Joy is only found when We Belong to the LORD!!!
Let us not focus on what we have lost, but let us keep our eyes, our focus upon Jesus.
May we Rejoice with Him as He Finds Those Lost Souls Who Are Currently Lost!!!
Let us then, this Christmas season, not be silent, but let us find Real Joy as we tell the world around us of this Jesus—The One sent, the One Who has found us!