Rejoice!

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

4 Χαίρετε ἐν κυρίῳ πάντοτε· πάλιν ἐρῶ, χαίρετε.

What to choose from Philippians 4?  There are a lot of great passages, but this is the one that speaks most clearly to my heart right now because I needed to be reminded of this.  When are we to rejoice?  πάντοτε.  There is no getting around this word with exegetical gymnastics.  We are to rejoice always.  At all times.  No matter what is going on, we are to rejoice.

That does not mean that we rejoice in our circumstances.  I did not have a particularly good weekend for a few reasons.  I was not about to rejoice in the circumstances.  However, Paul does give me a legitimate direction for rejoicing.  I am not to rejoice in my circumstances, but ἐν κυρίῳ.  And just in case we missed it, Paul tells us again.

This is both convicting and uplifting.  It is convicting because I see how poorly I do this.  I get caught up in the moment, start to feel sorry for myself, and just generally spiral downhill.  It is uplifting because we would not be given a command that we could not obey by the power of the Spirit.  Why is it possible?  The Lord is always worthy of our rejoicing.  When He becomes our focus then the crush of the world becomes less important.

Where are you putting your focus?  Are you wallowing in your circumstances or are you focusing on the risen Savior?  Will you join me in repenting from looking at the world?