Joy, by Chelcie Jolly

The Joy – Filled Chelcie Jolly & Her Fiancé, Isaiah Johnson!

Joy or Pain

The holiday season can be either super joyous, exciting, full of great memories and fruitfulness, or it can be a season full of selfishness, depression, and sad memories of lost ones. It can even be a season even bad memories of family. All of this can cause us to put a wall up spiritually.

Philippians 3:7-13
But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Joy and Contentment

Philippians is a book known as the book of joy and contentment – why? Well, I believe it starts right here in vs.7. Paul says that he considers everything a loss compared to just knowing God. Therefore, everything that we may care about means nothing in light of the most important thing which is having. and growing in, the knowledge of Christ! Paul actually sees that as a privilege and a supreme advantage of just knowing Christ and growing deeper and more acquainted with him.

So my question for you is, despite everything that has happened to you this year or hasn’t happened this year, are you simply just grateful that you have a relationship with Christ? Do you see it as a privilege to have the knowledge you have of him and that he gave you salvation?

Joy Forgets What Is Behind

I also think another part of that gratitude and contentment is in vs 13. Paul doesn’t consider himself to have “gotten everything down” or is perfect at everything. Instead of spending all this time thinking about everything he has done wrong and letting that slow him down in his relationship with God, Paul says he forgets what is behind. That means what last year might have brought him, and could be things he may have fallen short of or people who didn’t make it in discipleship and have walked away. Instead, Paul understands that joy and contentment come from forgetting and surrendering all of that to God and having a Godly sorrow about it, and seeing what you can do better.

I know for me the holidays are both a joyous time but also a very sad time where I fall into a deep depression and even acedia (spiritual apathy: a state of not caring). The reason for that is because I tend to look back at my past year and look at all that happened in my physical family, the deaths I had this year and feeling sad that they didn’t make it to become a disciple and knowing their destiny. Thinking about all my friends that decided to walk away from God, even thinking about where I wanted to be as a disciple and all my failures.

Doing Something Different

This has been my pattern every year since being a disciple and it is what that leads me to is an unfruitful holiday season both spiritually and physically, when the holidays are supposed to be about Jesus and gratitude for all he has done for me this year. Most importantly was that he forgives my sins, that His mercies are renewed every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), and sharing that gratitude with others and also wanting the same for others. So this year I’m deciding to do something different and take the advice of one of my favorite books in the bible, Philippians.

Some Practicals:

1. Write down the negative thoughts you may have, and refute them with scriptures that say the truth, and pray about it until you completely surrender to what God and His scriptures say.
2. REJOICE IN THE SMALL VICTORIES! Write them down and thank God for the little victories HE has given you.

This “Holiday Quiet Times” series was written for the month of December 2020. Brothers and sisters from the Phoenix and Tucson churches contributed these various daily devotionals. You can download the PDF packet here: “2020 Holiday Quiet Times.“