Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love. You know, I’ve been staring at those 4 boxes
under that Christmas tree for about a month now. So, when can we unwrap them and find out
what’s inside? I asked Pastor Kevin and
he said they’re just empty boxes.
Yeah, right. How gullible do you think I am (picks up a
box and shakes it)?
Um… Anyway, as I was saying, these
are just empty boxes made to look like a real gift. But, doesn’t it seem a bit odd to you that
boxes marked Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love are, in fact, empty? Maybe odd isn’t the right word; sad is
probably a better way to describe how it makes me feel. It’s sad because I have met so many people
over the years whose hearts were just as empty.
They may have looked good on the outside, but inside they had no hope,
joy, peace, or love.
Would that describe you?
Be honest with yourself for a
moment; how much joy does Christmas really bring? Do you find yourself filled with peace during
the stressful Christmas season? Are you
able to cling to hope when you reach the end of your rope? Is there love in your heart for the other
holiday shoppers, or does the whole holiday season cause your heart to be
mangled up in tangled up knots? Yes, I
know some people who, during Christmas, are as cuddly as a cactus, as charming
as an eel; their heart’s an empty hole.
I ask you again; does that
describe you? Do you find yourself
crawling out of bed in the morning and covering your heart so no one would know
just how empty you feel inside? Do you
find yourself searching or longing for that one perfect thing that will give
your life meaning and purpose? As you
search for the perfect thing, or place, or job, or amount of money, or person
who can fill the emptiness in your heart, do you find them to be just like the
decorative wrapping on these empty boxes; helping you look good on the outside,
but inside, there is still nothing; no Hope, Peace, Joy, or Love?
Let me be open and honest with you
for a moment. For a long time in my
life, I was just like those four empty boxes.
From the outside, I may have looked like I had it together, but inside,
my heart was empty. I didn’t know how to
love because I didn’t feel loved.
I pretended to be full of joy, but each night my heart was filled with
tears. I was always anxious, restless,
and doubtful. And nothing I did filled the
emptiness I felt within me.
And then I opened my heart to
Jesus.
I want you to take a moment and
consider something with me. As God the
Father looked upon humanity, with all our wickedness, loneliness, anger, and
fear, why do you suppose He felt Jesus would be the solution for all the
emptiness inside us? How could a baby
born in Bethlehem untangle our mangled-up hearts? It’s because when that Baby grew to be a Man,
He would be the One to mend the broken relationship we have with God. Jesus would lay down His life as a ransom to
set us free from sin and death. And
those are not my words; Jesus said this about Himself (“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve
others and to give his life as a ransom for many” – Mark 10:45[1]).
Something happens to us when we surrender
our lives to Jesus. We are changed from
the inside; Jesus calls it being “born again” (John 3:7). Peter, one of the Apostles of Jesus, says
that the ransom Jesus paid saved us from the empty life we inherited
from our ancestors (1 Peter 1:18). Paul,
another Apostle of Jesus, says that when we are transformed, God gives us a new
nature; the Spirit of God comes and lives within us. And the Spirit fills the emptiness of our
heart with “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control”[2]
(Galatians 5:22-23). This is what God
promised to do; long ago He said “I will give you a
new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn
heart and give you a tender, responsive heart”[3]
(Ezekiel 36:26).
By opening your heart to Jesus, a
heart that is two sizes too small can be completely transformed. And instead of emptiness, a person can find
within themselves what they have been searching for all their lives.
Their life is no longer an empty
box.
[1] Tyndale House
Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Mk 10:45). Carol
Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[2] Tyndale House
Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Ga 5:22–23). Carol
Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[3] Tyndale House
Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Eze 36:26). Carol
Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
