For this series in Philippians, I am going to limit each post to one verse, and hopefully produce a short, succinct read for my friends who follow.

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

A key verse of the letter. While Paul is in prison, addressing what may be considered a silly argument amongst those in his favorite church, he breaks forth with this reiteration of joy.

He says we are to rejoice always!

Come on Paul. I have a hangnail, and it is super irritating, my car had a flat last night and I have no diet coke in the fridge. How can you expect me to experience joy in the midst of these trials?

Oh the trials of the modern believer. Oh the heavy weight of the modern believer. In the midst of a life where we get distracted from our greater purpose by insignificant and inconsequential troubles, we are robbed of a joy that is offered to us.

Yet let us look at Paul’s statement once more.

He does not say “Experience joy” or “You shall enjoy life without condition”. His statement is a command. This is life changing, for as soon as I realized this was not simply a statement of my current condition, but a command to obey, much of the uncertainty of my faith fell away.

We are to rejoice! It is within our scope of obedience, and we are to enter into rejoicing by a decision we make in our lives. Paul gives us the focus of the joy, and that is in the Lord, He is our joy, and when our eyes focus on diet coke or flat tires, we have walked away from this command.

Yes diet coke and flat tires are distractions, some more powerful than others, but as we walk this pilgrimage, we are to focus on the Lord and rejoice.

As Paul said, I also will remind us and again say – Rejoice!

What a privilege to follow after Him, and to follow after Him in the midst of joy, not in a drudgery or complaining mood, which will suffocate your faith.

Rejoice. Decide to look to the Lord, realize who our Great Savior is, and rejoice!

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