Philippians 4v4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!”
One striking thing about this verse is that it is a command. Paul is telling Christians to rejoice.
That may seem difficult at present. During the last five months there have been many things that we were expecting to do, assuming we could do, that we have been unable to do. There have also been many things that we were hoping would happen which haven’t happened. And there is a continuing uncertainty: when will it all be over? We don’t know. Will it get worse again before it gets better? It may well do.
At the present, I think, many of us may feel more inclined to a sort of “vague feeling of depression” than rejoicing.
But God, through his apostle, commands us to rejoice – always.
How can he say that?! How can we rejoice when we don’t feel like it? The key is in the three words in between “rejoice” and “always”. “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
It is “in the Lord” we can always rejoice. If you are a Christian then you are “in Christ” – you are united to Christ, you are joined to him. Nothing – not even a pandemic that has turned out lives upside down – can alter that truth. And in the Lord you have amazing blessings. Whatever has happened so far in 2020, whatever may happen in the rest of 2020, we are wonderfully blessed in Christ.
Just skim through Philippians and we can see many of those blessings listed: we have received “grace and peace” (1v3). We can rejoice that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (1v6). We can rejoice that “Christ is preached” (1v18). We can rejoice that “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2v10-11). We can rejoice that we have “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” (3v9). We can rejoice that we have a Saviour in heaven who will return and “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body” (3v20).
I am sure you can find many other blessings, listed both in Philippians and in other parts of scripture, that are ours in Christ.
Ultimately, for the Christian, to rejoice or not to rejoice is a choice. Will we focus on our circumstances and be taken up with the difficulties, or will we decide to focus on Jesus and to rejoice in the blessings we have in him?
Let’s pray for one another that we would choose to rejoice.
Ephesians 1v3: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”
Tim
Leave a Reply