Joy Is Not Just for Christmas

By Jason Shawa

Joy to the World

What an extraordinary season the world has just experienced. Christmas is often marked by family gatherings, gift exchanges, vacations, and celebrations meant to cultivate joy in our lives. In the United States alone, the most recent Christmas season set records, with consumer spending estimated at more than $1 trillion across November and December[1], making it the largest holiday season on record. Travel also reached historic highs, with an estimated 122.4 million trips, up from 119.7 million the previous year. [2]

All of these dollars spent and miles traveled were fueled by a shared hope: to celebrate a season of joy. And this is not unique to the United States. Around the world, people gathered with family and friends, anticipating some experience of happiness, peace, or delight. For many, Christmas is the one time of year when joy is not only expected but assumed. This raises an important question for followers of Christ: Is joy only for Christmas?

“When joy is understood as a settled confidence in God’s character, promises, and indwelling, it becomes an anchor for the soul.”

Joy as the World Defines It

Merriam-Webster defines joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a state of happiness or felicity; a source of cause of delight. This definition captures how joy is commonly experienced — when life is going well, when relationships are thriving, or when success and prosperity are present.

In 2024, journalist Katie Couric interviewed Steven Petrow, author of “The Joy You Make,” about what surprised him most while writing the book. Petrow offered a lighthearted analogy: Happiness, he suggested, is like a sugary Twinkie — sweet but short-lived — while joy is more like a whole-wheat muffin, nourishing and sustaining. One provides a brief rush followed by a crash; the other offers lasting satisfaction.

While playful, such illustrations also reveal a deeper tension: If joy is something we try to manufacture or consume, how do we truly possess it — and how long can it last?

Joy Over Happiness

Modern culture often treats happiness and joy as interchangeable, but Scripture draws an important distinction between the two. Happiness is typically tied to happenings — it rises and falls with circumstances, comfort, success, and emotional well-being. When life is favorable, happiness flourishes; when difficulty comes, it quickly fades.

Joy, however, is deeper and more resilient. Biblical joy is not dependent on external circumstances but is rooted in relationship, specifically relationship with God. Joy can coexist with sorrow, uncertainty, and even suffering. It is not the absence of pain but the presence of hope in the resurrected Christ. This is why Scripture can speak of joy amid trials (James 1:2–3) and why believers throughout history have testified to joy even in seasons of loss or persecution.

Understanding this distinction is critical. When joy is confused with happiness, faith can feel fragile or easily shaken when life brings its disappointments. When joy is understood as a settled confidence in God’s character, promises, and indwelling, it becomes an anchor for the soul. Joy does not deny hardship; it declares that hardship does not have the final word!

Joy as God Defines It

The church is called to be the mouthpiece of hope and joy in a world searching for fulfillment through money, possessions, and relationships. Scripture exhorts believers to be prepared to explain this hope: “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15 NASB).

Both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures use a rich variety of words that are translated into the single English word joy. Depending on the translation, joy appears in the Bible between 200 and 280 times — underscoring that joy is not a peripheral theme, but central to the life of God’s people.

“Our source of joy is found in Christ, but the expression of that joy is the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.”

The Apostle Paul offers one of the clearest biblical pictures of joy. Often described as the apostle of weakness and grace, Paul uses some form of the word joy more than 20 times in his letters. What stands out most is that Paul’s joy is rarely tied to favorable circumstances. Instead, it is rooted in the power of the Holy Spirit and the reality of Christ’s resurrection. Many of Paul’s references to joy are set alongside suffering and hardship (2 Corinthians 7:4, 8:2; Philippians 2:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:6). At other times, his joy flows from witnessing the faith, unity, and perseverance of others in Christ (Romans 15:30–33; Philippians 2:2, 18).

Joy for the Saints

What can be seen is the fact that joy is not necessarily defined by our circumstances or even our desires. Paul shows us that we can receive joy from others while seeing their faith and joy in Christ and that, even in our difficult circumstances, joy can be a foundation that we stand on. Joy is not just for Christmas time. Although the birth of Christ ushered in the source of our joy, joy should be an ever-present reality in our lives every day.

Our source of joy is found in Christ, but the expression of that joy is the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. In a world seeking signs and wonders as proof that God is real and attentive, Scripture points to something quieter yet more powerful. Joy, Paul teaches, is a fruit of the Spirit; visible, lived, and compelling. Joy should be the sign that the church has for this seeking generation.

As believers look ahead to 2026, the call is clear: Joy is not reserved for a few weeks at the end of the year. It is meant to characterize the daily life of those who walk with Christ. The challenge for the church is to embody this joy as a living testimony, remembering the words of the Apostle Paul: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23 NASB).

[1] https://fortune.com/2025/11/06/christmas-season-holiday-shopping-forecast-1-trillion-nrf/

[2] https://newsroom.aaa.com/2025/12/aaa-year-end-holiday-travel-forecast/

Jason Shawa is the executive pastor of administration at Christ Community Church in Columbus, Georgia, and a PRN hospital chaplain. He has more than 25 years of ministry and leadership experience and holds a B.A., M.Div., and Ph.D. His passion is sharing the hope of Christ through preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and writing.