joy to the world...really

I've been told the Christmas story from my earliest days.
My childhood memories include the Sunday School crafts of Jesus in the manger,
the candlelight church service on Christmas Eve,
and my dad reading from Luke 2 before opening gifts.
I've participated in lots of Christmas pageants,
read countless Christmas books to our boys,
and sang all the familiar carols.
I've heard it and been around it...all my life.

I have no other way to describe it but "thankful." 
I really am.

But with anything that's done repetitively,
we run the risk of it becoming something almost mechanical;
a habit of sorts without much thought or understanding.

We've heard it before.
We know how the story goes.
We love it and appreciate it...
but are we changed by it?

If I'm not careful,
I can fall into this dangerous place of joyful, celebratory apathy.
I can follow through with all the traditions because that's the way we've always done them.
I can sing the beloved carols
and check off all the things that I've convinced myself are necessary this Christmas season.

But I want more than that.
Oh, do I want more than that.
So I'm asking my Father to do a work in my heart.

With each retelling of the Christmas story,
I want to be captivated by the joy of my Savior's birth.
I long to be floored by the love of this God who loves me so much that He sent His sinless, perfect, only Son to earth to pay the penalty of my sins. 
I want to be changed by this Holy God who loves me too much to let me stay the same;
the One who longs to take up residence in my heart and have access to its inner recesses.
I want His work inside my heart to change everything I do on the outside:
the way I walk,
the way I love,
the way I face trials,
the way I deal with disappointment and change.
This Savior of the world has changed everything---including me!
Because of and through Him, I want to live like it!

It wasn't simply joy to the world on one starry night 2,000 years ago.
Because of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection,
we can walk in joy and victory today.

hey friends!
joy to the world ~
the LORD has come!