Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! – Philippians 4v4
Do you ever come across a Bible teaching that reads great, sounds great, and when preached it gets great ‘amens’ but when it comes to living it out you wonder about it deep inside? In other words are there times when what the Bible says doesn’t really seem to ‘work?’
Paul wrote to this marvellous church in Philippi, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always, I’ll say to you again, rejoice!’ In response we might be tempted to say, ‘Rejoice? I am just barely able to make it through! Rejoice??? With all that is going on in my life? Rejoice?????? You have got to be kidding! How I am supposed to rejoice with my kids sick, no money, a flat tyre on the car, a flat battery, doctor’s bills, threats to have my electric cut off, and losing my stupid job? How am I supposed to rejoice when my mortgage is in threat?’
Now, you might be saying, “Those kinds of thoughts are not very spiritual.’ There are not, but have any of us been exempt from them? How many of us have never had those or similar thoughts?
Well, when we have those thoughts the problem is not really God’s but ours. The problem is that our focus is in the wrong place. We are focused on all those externals. If you focus on them we will never really rejoice because there is always something to whinge about!
The key is right there in the verse, ‘Rejoice in the Lord…’ Wait, don’t miss it, “rejoice IN THE LORD’. My car is going to let me down as will my bank account, my nation, my friends, my church, and even my family. God loves me – that never changes. Jesus died for me – that never changes. I have an eternal inheritance – that never changes. God is faithful – that never changes. He will never fail me and that will not change!
Rejoice in the Lord!! I will say it again and again and again and again. Rejoice IN THE LORD!!!
2 comments:
Thanks for the devotion Roger. It was a blessing.
Thanks RP! Great reminder for any day but especially the 5 of 7 when I'm feeling overwhelmed and under-prepared. It's like you said the other day (and used to sing with Shannon): This world is not my home; I'm just a-passin' through." And as all circumstances in life can be summed up with a quote from the Princess Bride or Steel Magnolias, all deep thoughts can be summed up with a quote from Andrew Peterson:
Give us hearts to find hope
Father, we cannot see
How the sorrow we feel can bring freedom
And as hard as we try, Lord, it's hard to believe
So, give us hearts to find hope
He tells us to Rejoice in Him, and just like the fruits of the Spirit, He prepares our hearts obey. He opens our hearts so we can find the hope in the sorrow; the love in the heartache; the miracles in the mundane. Bang on! Our Hope is only in Him!
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