The Advent season is upon us and as we look backwards and forward to the coming of King Jesus,
what should be our primary emotion?
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring to you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people.”
Luke 2:10
With the coming of Jesus comes great joy! Am I full of great joy? Are you filled with great joy? Does Advent bring you great joy or fear? Apart from the saving work of Christ we would remain in great fear in the presence of King Jesus. But now, God has dealt with our sins through the blood of Christ declaring us righteous that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. We ought to have great joy knowing all our sins have been forgiven, and if we don’t, something is amiss. If we are lacking joy, the second of two aspects of our repentance may be deficient.
As Mike Mason has said,
“The first part of repentance is to turn away with loathing from sin; the second part is to turn toward all the good things God offers in exchange, to put aside lust without taking up love, or escape bitterness without embracing celebration. It’s easier to let God’s law convict than let His gospel set free. Two great obstacles to joy are guilt and grudge: Either we feel guilty about our sin, or we bear a grudge against someone else. In each case we fail to grasp the gospel, which teaches that both conditions are entirely unnecessary, for they can be readily healed through forgiveness-either receiving it for ourselves or extending it to another. The prerequisite for forgiveness is our repentance.”
If you are lacking joy revisit repentance and know Christ as your all in all!
