REJOICING…NO MATTER WHAT

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”  Philippians 4:4 (ESV)

Here we have a Scriptural command to rejoice in the Lord ALWAYS.  Rightfully so, as a body of born-again believers at Mosaic, we rejoice and have joy through emotion (singing, praising, being thankful with gladness) on Sunday mornings as we worship. The object of our emotion is our King, our Savior and our Lord.  Therefore, our worship is in the Lord.  

Likely, we all rejoice when a lost object (something important to us, whether that be a wallet, phone, car keys, or favorite piece of jewelry as examples) is found or when a wayward child of ours gets his/her head on straight.  Like worship, rejoicing seems to come in moments rather than at all times.  How do we have joy in the Lord during all of our days and hours? James 1:2 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.”  

What about those times when bad news comes our way or this temporary physical life isn’t working out like we planned?  

Our perspective of events and how we respond to them is largely a derivative of our faith, of which Pastor Lawrence spoke last week.  Faith is a strong and vigorous confidence.  Even though we can’t physically see God and we can’t understand what He is doing, we know Him and we know that there is purpose in whatever we are going through.  

In John 17:3, when praying to God the Father, Jesus said,” And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” As believers, we know we will spend eternity with God after this physical life is over but we also are spending eternity with Him right now.  Understanding and internalizing that enables us to face with joy any trials presented before we see Him face to face.  And our hearts overflow with joy upon the return of a lost item or wayward child, of which Pastor Lauren spoke this past Sunday. 

Let faith lift your life to rejoice always!