The angel of the Lord looked at the frightened men, and said, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10).
Despite his fear, as the shepherd listened to these words, a joyous laughter he couldn’t contain began to bubble up in him. A savior? After all our waiting, there is a child of flesh and blood sent from God? Can it be true?
Suddenly the doors of heaven itself were thrown open above them and a vast chorus of angels appeared, singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Oh, pure joy! It swirled around him like healing water, lifting his heart above the drudgery of his life and the anxiety that had been his constant companion. He wasn’t alone or forgotten! God cared for him after all! Tears rolled down the shepherd’s face as he fell to his knees. He would go to Bethlehem to find this savior—but he knew his search for a pathway to redemption and reconciliation with God had come to an end. He believed what the angel told him: This baby would make it possible to finally find salvation—and lasting joy—in God.
Make a Joyful Noise
In this story, at the very beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry, we find one gift meant to be its end result—deep joy at the awesome news of our salvation. To experience anything less is to have missed the point—and missed out on the full-spectrum, whole-life transformation God had in mind. His plan did not include leaving us stuck in an earthly limbo of hardship and doubt. Ours is a fantastic inheritance of joyful freedom. To announce the news, he sent a multitude of messengers who couldn’t wait to shout and sing it out to the high heavens.
Rejoice! Emmanuel has come! God is with you! Come out of hiding and join him again in Eden!
How else can we respond to that but to literally leap for joy?
This is the promise of salvation—and the inevitable fruit of a life of openness and honesty with God. “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Revelation 7:17). This is what makes all the vulnerability and initial discomfort of deep honesty with him worthwhile—the living water of joy.
Deep and open honesty with God leads to great joy because:
1. Honesty clears away the falsehoods that keep us from seeing God’s love as it really is. Way back in Eden, the entire drama of human history began with the serpent’s lie: “Eat of this tree and you’ll be like God.” And he’s been lying ever since. Jesus went so far as to say, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
His lies have confused and confounded us into believing all sorts of baloney about ourselves and God: that we must earn our way into His grace; that our Father is angry, vengeful, and grudging with his blessing and acceptance; that we are forever stained and unworthy to enter His presence (even under the covering of Christ’s blood).
The day we overcome our reluctance to be open and honest with God is a day of joyful liberation. It is when, like exhausted shepherds on a lonely hillside, we receive the best news of our lives: God is with us—period. Rejoice!
2. Honesty permits direct experience of God’s presence, where we once hesitated to go. Having received this news, and responded by receiving a deeper relationship with God, we are free to see for ourselves what is true about Him and what is just a lingering lie. Openness and honesty is a step away from only seeing God “through a glass, darkly.” No longer in hiding, we move toward perceiving him as he truly is: holy, forgiving, generous and infinitely loving. Put that together with the knowledge that, by the miracle of salvation in Christ, we aren’t mere servants in his household—by His own invitation we are his beloved sons and daughters!—and I dare you to restrain an outburst of joy.
