“…for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8:10)

In my first blog post this month, I discussed hope. Like hope, joy can also be difficult to find during the Christmas season. Perhaps our lives haven’t turned out the way we thought they would. Maybe we’ve lost someone close to us or been rejected by someone. In Western culture, we equate joy with happiness, but these are two different things. Both are emotions, but happiness is determined by our circumstances. Joy goes much deeper and is one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22). The Greek word for joy is chara and is closely related to charis, or grace. Joy is the natural response to the work of God in our lives. Continue reading “Joy for the Season” →