Rejoice...Always

Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The Lord is near (Philippians 4:4-5).

 It is rather amazing the way circumstances can enhance credibility.  It would be one thing to hear “rejoice always” from someone living in plenty, comfort and great health.  It is a different thing altogether to hear it from someone living in circumstances that would test and challenge us all. At the time of this writing Paul was not in good circumstances.  He had been in worse ones, but Roman imprisonment was no picnic, and if conditions on the inside weren’t so good, neither were some of those on the “outside” where the church was not always being what God wanted her to be.  And yet, Paul insisted that he and others could still rejoice.  They could still affirm life, or, more accurately, they could still affirm God.

Pressing On

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.  Only let us live up to what we have already attained (Philippians 3:13-16).

Salvation is not through a “righteousness of our own.”  But if that thought leads to sloth or laziness, we show we have missed the grace of God.   There is so much more to know.  There is so much more growing to do.  The heart that understands Christ is “compelled by the love of Christ.” The disciple who realizes that Jesus has taken hold of him, wants to take hold of everything that Jesus has planned for his life.  Such a one does not sit and wait for life to come to him; he “presses on.”  This word (dioko) was used in both hunting and foot racing.  It could describe pursuing, chasing, even overtaking and capturing. Inspired by Christ, the true disciple wants to “go for it”¾to discover all God has in the storehouses of his love.

Knowing Christ

                   I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11).

               

 I want to know Christ.  The man who had a face-to-face encounter with the risen Lord said simply, “I want to know Christ.”  Did he not already know him?  After three days of fasting and prayer (Acts 9:9)?  After three years of personal training (Galatians 1:11-24)?  After a visit to the third heaven (visions and revelations, 2 Corinthians 12:1-6)?  Paul uses the Greek verb ginoskein which is kin to the Hebrew that describes the sexual relationship in marriage. Paul is not thinking sexually here, but he did want an ever-growing, personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Shining

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life (Philippians 2:14-16a).

 Dark nights were also as dark as they are now.  Paul’s generation was as “crooked and depraved” as is our own.    People then had the same, ”What’s-in-it-for-me?” attitudes as they do now:  “I’m not going to do any more than I have to.”  “Why should I work?  She isn’t!”  “I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it.  I don’t really care who it hurts.  After all, what I want is the most important consideration here.”  Lust, selfishness, pride, deceit¾no century has had a corner on the commodities of the sinful nature.

To Live Is to Give

If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me.  Yet what shall I choose?  I do not know!  I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.  Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me (Philippians 1:22-26).

Paul had no desire simply to remain with the disciples.  He wanted to continue with them.  The Greek word translated “continue” means “to wait beside a person to be ready to help and to help all the time.”*   It is one thing to just “stick around” with someone because it is not yet time to leave.  It is quite another thing to commit your time, energy and life to them. 

Deck the Halls

By Linda Brumley

This first appeared on Linda’s blog, "My Beggar’s Purse," which we would highly recommend to you as a source of insight and wisdom. 

Gandhi once said: “I have never been able to reconcile myself to the gaities of the Christmas season. They have appeared to me to be so inconsistent with the life and teaching of Jesus."

If Gandhi was referring to the gluttonous materialism that pervades the Christmas season, I understand his concern. If he meant hedonistic partying, he was also right in his judgments. Both of these excesses have contaminated our celebrations of the birth of Christ.

Loss, Pain and Tears

This last week we were stunned by a horrible tragedy. Tears flowed. In such a situation even some treasured Scriptures seem not to bring much comfort and may even raise questions. How, we wonder can God possibly work for good in this? How can we even think about being joyful in this circumstance? Where in this moment can we find the peace that passes all understanding?

Where do we turn when we feel like we have been hit in the stomach? What do we do when something that has happened makes no sense to us and seems to be so unfair?  We may search for a truth, a thought that will make it all better. But at such times quick answers really offer no comfort.  That is probably why the Scripture tells us in one place that there is a time to weep and a time to mourn, and in another place that we need to mourn with those who mourn. The same Bible that calls us to affirm hope and trust in God, is still emotionally realistic. The Word of God teaches us that grief is real and must be expressed and shared.

Perhaps, by the grace of God, in time, our pain will be eased. Perhaps, our wounds will be healed. But for now, we find comfort in the fact that when he was with those who grieved, Jesus, also, wept.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.’" Jeremiah 31:15  

^“Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’ When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.” Matthew 19:13-15