Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7
At the beginning of a new year, I think that just about everyone is rejoicing. Either you are rejoicing that a bad year is final over and you get a new start, or you are rejoicing because you just had a great year and looking forward to the coming one.
But in this passage, the Apostle Paul is talking about rejoicing no matter the circumstance, no matter the time of year. So the big question is, can we rejoice every month of this coming year? Will we rejoice when we encounter the first setback this year? Will we rejoice when one of our resolutions fall through?
My mother recently passed away and given this verse, how am I supposed to rejoice? If you have lost a loved one, you know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't, you can only imagine. However, I do rejoice because I can think of a million positive things having to do with her. So it is a choice to rejoice. No matter the circumstance, divorce, death, attacks, adversity, will you take a look at the positive aspects of your circumstance and decide to rejoice.
Sure, it is easier said than done but you can always imagine a worse alternative. I think of Psalm 88 when the sons of Korah were obviously faced with extreme adversity, "I am overwhelmed with troubles and my life draws near to death." That's a dark place to be but I'm sure that most of us have thought this one time or another. But my final point is that you got through it, didn't you?
So rejoice, we get through our troubles, just remember that.
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