God so loved a rebellious world that He gave His one and only Son, and that’s why you can sing Joy to the World with hearts full of hope and gratitude.
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SHAUNA: Merry Christmas, friend! Joni and I are joining you in celebrating the birth of our Savior. So, sing with Joni today as she declares happy hallelujahs to God for all He’s given us.
(Joni sings:)
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her king
Let every heart, prepare Him room
And heaven and nature sing; and heaven and nature sing
And heaven and heaven and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods; rock, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy; repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
JONI: Joy to the world! Wow, I hope you enjoyed singing that. And you know what? If you ask the man on the street what he thinks of the babe of Christmas, you’d be surprised at the answers, but then again, maybe not. Just look at the folks who were there when the actual birth of Christ happened. Look at the way they responded. I mean, it wasn’t necessarily joy to the world for them.
The innkeeper was downright indifferent; a census had come to town; he was busy making beds, ringing up the cash register. Then there was Herod trying to destroy everything connected with the birth of this baby. And look at the shepherds—only after the angels bent over backward to explain the celestial fireworks were their fears put to rest. But hey, give credit to the wise men. They were curious, poking here and there, asking questions until they found the answers that satisfied. Still others, like Simeon in the temple, he waited and just waited. Other people were big on hope, like Anna the prophetess. Then there were those who like Mary and Joseph, knew enough to worship the newborn King. They understood joy to the world.
And you know, people have not changed much since Bible times. The man on the street nowadays still responds the same way. People are indifferent. They’re too busy. And in this post-Christian world, a lot of people want to outright destroy the Christmas message.
Friend, there are a thousand different ways to respond to the news that a Savior has been born to deliver us from sin. But I pray you will join millions in embracing Christ as Lord and Savior for He has freed you from sin’s curse. I mean, isn’t that remarkable? God did not have to come to earth to save you or me. He owed this utterly rebellious planet absolutely nothing. He could’ve left us hopeless and abandoned but hey, God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son. And that’s why you and I can sing ‘Joy to the World’.
SHAUNA: And friend, if you still have questions about Christmas, if you’re feeling like that man on the street, we want to help you find answers. Visit us at joniradio.org and tell us about your journey this Christmas. What questions do you have? And how can we pray for you? It’s always our joy to bring your prayer requests to the Lord. So go to joniradio.org today. You’ll find this program and so much more inspiration from Joni. It’s all waiting for you, so don’t delay. And please this Christmas remember, God did not have to come to earth to save us. He owed this utterly rebellious planet absolutely nothing, but He didn’t leave us hopeless; oh, no! He gave us Jesus. The best Christmas gift of all!
© Joni and Friends