Repeat The Sounding Joy—Until It Becomes Habit

Christianity Today Op-Ed: Repeat the Sounding Joy—Until it Becomes Habit, by Shena Ashcraft (Dallas Theological Seminary):

If Bible-reading habits are any indication, many Christians are struggling with anxiety this year. Top Scripture search engines showed that one of the most popular passages of 2024 was Philippians 4, and especially verse 6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Yet just two verses earlier, Paul issues another command—one so important he felt it worth repeating: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (v. 4).

It seems joy, not just the absence of anxiety, is essential to experiencing God’s peace amid life’s challenges. Both Scripture and science prove the power of rejoicing, even, and perhaps especially, when we don’t feel like it. Thankfully, the highs and lows of the holiday season provide us with ample opportunity to do just that.

Isaiah, the wise Israelite prophet, recognizes that his people have been in anguish, darkness, and gloom—but he reminds them that this condition is not God’s forever-plan for them. He paints a picture of what is to come:

You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest. (Isa. 9:3)

Imagine this, Isaiah seems to say, God increases the people’s joy, and in turn they rejoice, just like the experience of joy at a good harvest. He emphasizes harvest time, where God’s people are celebrating together, singing and dancing in the streets, feasting and sharing their bounty with neighbors, all lifting their voices and instruments in praise to God for his provision.

The order of joy and rejoice in this verse highlights a cyclical pattern, where each prompts the other—joy, rejoice, joy, rejoice. Joy is often a felt emotion—it can feel like a burst of lightness, a well of exuberance, or a lingering hum of contentment—while rejoicing, as the word itself implies, is a responsive action. To re-joice is to respond to joy. …

But what about when it seems there’s nothing for us to celebrate? What do we do when the joy of the Lord feels elusive—when our vision for the future isn’t panning out the way we anticipated, when we’re burdened with financial, professional, or personal anxieties—or when our family or culture expects us to be cheerful and jingle-y, but all we feel is weight and sorrow? What good is a cycle of joy and rejoicing if there is no way to manufacture the joy that causes it to start spinning? …

Many of us are drudging through this holiday season with a sense of dread, burdened by the increased tension and weight of division between family members, friends, neighbors, and church members. Our bodies are primed toward grumbling, as our bones have grown stiff from the lack of reasons to rejoice.

But whether our life circumstances are what we might wish them to be, joy is available to us. We can actively choose to cultivate it. Even without a praiseworthy event or emotion, we as God’s people can always embody joy out of a childlike faith that our God is good, holy, and just. And our brains will eventually align with our bodies when we mimic the rejoicing of God’s people who have come before us.

When Paul and Silas were stripped of their clothing, beaten, and imprisoned, they sang a celebratory song and rejoiced, even while their feet were clasped in chains (Acts 16:25). It is this very context which informs the conclusive message of this year’s most popular passage for anxious Bible readers, in which the apostle Paul writes, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Phil. 4:11–12).

To live out the gospel is to participate in this cycle of joy and re-joy and to jump in at any point. For those who are abuzz with holiday spirit, let us teach our brains the right response of joyful gratitude to the giver of all good things. And for those who are feeling the heaviness or frustration of the season, let us position our bodies in the posture of rejoicing. Let our mouths form the words of gratefulness. Let our cheeks rise into the shape of a smile. Let our feet stomp to a beat and our hands clap in celebration.

Why? Because there is one ultimate reason for us all to rejoice no matter what, which Isaiah himself explains later in the same chapter we began with: unto us a child is born. To us—the ones who once lived in darkness—a Son is given. The government of the kingdom rests entirely upon his shoulders. He is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the greatness of his peace there will be no end (Isa. 9:6–7).

Because of Jesus and his coming at the perfect time, now is a good time for this weary world to start rejoicing.