Does Meeting Jesus Fill You With Joy?

Do you seek Jesus out, anticipating Him, not for what He can do for you, but to adore Him? Fiona shares.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him.’ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed” (Matthew 2:1-2,9-10).

Some friends and I get together regularly throughout the year, to do some card making. I’ve been working on my Christmas cards for the last month or so. This year’s card idea came to me last Christmas, but when I went to start making them, it wasn’t as easy as it had seemed in my head, but eventually it came together–and I’m happy with it.

The card shows the wise men on camels, traveling across the desert with the star they are following in the distance, where Jesus is.

We think of three wise men, on camels, bringing gifts–because that’s the way we see them on Christmas cards, or in Christmas stories. Whether that was how it was or not–the Bible is not clear–just wise men, or royal astrologers, or magi, from eastern lands, who followed a star and came to worship the newborn King.

They travelled a huge distance, just so they could bring gifts and worship Jesus. They must have felt He was important. When the star came to rest over the place where Jesus was, it says they were overjoyed–or in the King James Version, “they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” Sounds like they were pretty happy.

So effort went into bringing them to meet Jesus and when they did, they were overjoyed.

I pondered how we respond meeting Jesus. We may not be meeting Him for the first time as the wise men were, but whenever we meet with Jesus, are we overjoyed, or rejoicing with exceeding great joy?

Are we prepared to put in the effort involved to meet Jesus? Relationships take effort and time and work and they need to be maintained if we want to grow closer.

Jesus is there, always, waiting for us to come to Him.

Prayer: Jesus, we are so grateful You came to earth for us. As we remember that again this Christmas, help us to draw close to You, worship and adore You as the wise men did. May our hearts be filled with exceeding great joy as we seek to grow closer to You, day by day. Amen.

About the Author:
Fiona Burrows lives in Melbourne, Australia. She is thankful that God walks each step of her life with her, and that He continues to teach her new things as she learns to live with chronic back pain. She enjoys finding time for reading, writing, and photography, and to share those things with others. You can contact her in the Sunroom, or read more of her writing on her blog there.

This Christmas, can you feel the joy of meeting Jesus? If Christmas seems overwhelming, how can you make it just about you meeting Jesus?

This is the classic “O Come All Ye Faithful” but who is singing it may surprise you. It is a “duet” with Susan Boyle and Elvis Presley. (If you know me, you knew I couldn’t let the season pass without a Christmas song with Elvis, and this is simply beautiful.) The video is pretty sweet too. Let us look for Him with anticipation, especially this season. And let us adore Him. -Lisa