Perfect Joy

Joy. What does it mean to you? Money in your pocket? Making music? Being surrounded by friends? Happiness is a funny thing. It's a hole in your heart that must be filled. It's something that must be found, like a hidden treasure. It's the thing that adorns the girl around the corner, but never seems to fall on you.
Or at least that's what the world tells us.
They say you need to have the right clothes, the right cell phone, the right computer, to be happy.
But that's not true. It's a lie. No, Joy is not a lie - a myth - a legend. It's real. What isn't real is that you can do somethng about obtaining it.
Because you can't.
You can't, but someone can. Let's look back to the beginning of the Bible. It says in the 1st chapter of Genesis, several times actually, "And God saw that it was good." The Garden of Eden was perfection. Filled with joy and happiness. Of course, then Adam and Eve had to go and mess things up. Joy wasn't so easily found anymore. It was still there - you could feel it gazing at the brilliant stars; holding a newborn baby; when you shared a meal with some one else. But now there were other emotions, too. Anger; when the skies cloud up. Sadness; when the tiny, helpless, newborn baby dies. Selfishness; it was your meal, after all. Sin entered the world.

It wasn't a world of joy anymore. It wasn't the world of which God had said, "It is good."

In fact, it was bad. And it kept on getting worse. But God had a plan.

About 2000 years ago God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to Earth.

No, think about it.

God's perfect world wasn't perfect anymore. The only perfect thing left was God. God, and his son.

Okay, so you have two chocolate bars. One of them your little sister drops in the dirt, and is no good for anything except to be thrown in the trash. It was good, but the dirt changed that. Now let's look at your other chocolate bar. It has everything that you could ever want! Caramel filling, nuts, dark chocolate, the creamy inside, this humongous chocolate bar of perfection. It's the only thing you have left. What are you going to do with it?

I know what I would do. I would be angry at my sister for dropping my first chocolate bar. I would be sad that my first chocolate bar was ruined. And, most of all, I would be selfish. I wouldn't share my perfect chocolate bar! Not with the girl who ruined my first one! After all, I gave her a chance to have some of a chocolate bar. She just didn't take that chance. It's her fault.

But God isn't selfish.

He sent his perfect son to this sin-filled Earth. His perfect son was born in a place that smelled like cows, sheep, horses. Even pigs. His perfect son ate the bread that was fixed by sinful hands. His perfect son was accused of many crimes. His perfect son was mocked, flogged, pierced, starved. His perfect son carried a cross to Calvary. His perfect son was nailed to a tree that he had created. His perfect son felt the crushing weight of all the sins that we could not carry. His perfect son died on a cross to save us from our sins.

So that we could have joy again. So that we could be perfect.

So that we could have Perfect Joy.