The Lord IS Come

Christmas is almost here! I have been waiting for quite a while now to have the opportunity to go back to Michigan and be with family and friends that we haven't seen for months now. During the holiday season from Thanksgiving to the New Year I always find it interesting to listen to what goes on around me. In many places this is when the 24 hr. Christmas music makes its appearance, or people change their standard greeting from "have a nice day" to "Merry Christmas." It causes me to wonder, how often people really take the time to understand what they are saying and what the words to many of our timeless Christmas songs proclaim.
One thing that has really struck me in the past 2 weeks is that the famous line from the carol Joy to the World. The words read "Joy to the World the Lord IS Come." Did you catch it? The Lord IS Come! Not just, the Lord has come, or the Lord will Come but the Lord IS Come. That one subtle little word makes all the difference. It makes me realize that not only has the Lord come as a baby in a manger, but the Lord is coming again, bringing justice and righteousness, but also that right now, where we are in the madness of the Christmas season, the Lord desires to dwell with us in the person of the Holy Spirit. It seems that the writer of the carol all those years ago caught on to a key idea that many of us have yet to fully understand. Yes, it is essential that Jesus came to earth and died on the cross, and yes it is essential that He is coming again to set the world right, but we must still remember that until that day comes the Holy Spirit is urging us along to join in that work of setting the world right.