Choose Joy (Friday Devotional)

 

Rejoice always…

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16

Our Christmas lights at home are not set on any sort of automatic, mechanized timer. What that means is that every evening, I must make the conscious decision to step outside and plug them in. If I fail to do so—if I forget or I get too busy or I just don’t feel like it—then there’s no light.

Given that Christmas lights are a visible sign of the joy of Christmas, something about that feels appropriately symbolic to me. After all, there are occasions—even during the most wonderful time of the year—when you don’t feel particularly joyful. Life has a way of surrounding you with darkness, of making you feel like joy doesn’t meet the moment.

But if you don’t choose joy, then the darkness simply wins. Darkness isn’t driven out just because we wish for it to be so; it is driven out when we shine the light of Jesus. And doing so, make no mistake, is a choice.

So especially as Christmas approaches, let me encourage and challenge you: choose joy. In a world of cynics, be the earnest one. In a world of complainers, be the encourager. In a world of doomsayers, be the one celebrating the good. There’s plenty of darkness to go around—in Jesus’ name, be the one who chooses to shine a light.