Joy to the World

How many times have you sang a song, especially a Christmas song and not thought one bit about what you were singing?  I am sure I do it all the time.  We all do. We have sung the lyrics so many times and often the phrasing is a bit odd and archaic and we don't really think about it.

The third verse of Joy to the World has been going on over and over again in my head this week. Probably a verse most of us don't know as well as the others.  Probably a verse our eyes have glossed over. 

No more let sins and sorrows grow 

nor thorns infest the ground:   

he comes to make his blessings flow

far as the curse is found.

To me it speaks of moving past the way your life used to be and into God's best for you.  We have to stop letting (allowing, giving permission) sin have a place in our lives.  It controls whatever it touches.  The devil is not happy to be second fiddle. He wants full control. Sin festers, it poisons, it steals from the place where God intended there to be victory and joy and it taints the soil of your heart. Sin is anything contrary to God's word, whether it's doing when God said not to or not doing when God said do. We all fall short in some way.

Jesus has come so we can move from the sin of our past and have blessings and not curses, freedom and not bondage.  And He will keep pouring out blessing in every part of our lives the devil has tried to latch onto and control. There are a few verses of scripture this brings to mind for me.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.- We must not be ignorant that we are living in a world full of sin and that the wages or consequences of that sin is death.  This is not a free for all, a time to do as you please with no consequence for your choices.  There is a price to be paid for your sin.  Because God is just and cannot let sin go unpunished.  But if you accept Jesus' sacrifice, your debt has been paid for.  And your gift from God is life. Full and wonderful life.

Romans 5:20 But where sin increased, grace increased all the more- Praise God! Even when it feels that we will never stop failing God and sin is overwhelming us, God's grace is being poured out into our lives more and more. So we can receive his blessings and overcome the curse of sin that is present around us in this world.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy.  But I have come that you might have life and have it to the full.- If you feel like you are being stolen from and someone is out to get you, it's because you are and someone is.  And it's not God doing the stealing. God's plans are life and blessings and not curses and death. So we have to step away from the curses of sin and into the flow of blessings God is pouring into us.

The phrase that I keep singing over and over again is: He comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

In every step where the devil is trying to gain ground, God's pouring out blessings. Flowing like a river if we will just get in the stream. God is replacing every place of curses with blessing in our lives.

And that is where the joy comes from.  Not from our good deeds or getting what we ask for, but from God who gives us more than we deserve because of his love.  We can live in the flow of God's blessings and there we will find true joy.