Have you been accidentally ignoring this command too?

   "I think we all sin by needlessly disobeying the apostolic injunction to "rejoice" as much as by anything else" - C.S. Lewis

A few weeks ago I had one of those days where the same scripture pops up a couple of times in a row. In my personal reading one morning I had read, 

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice!”  Philippians 4:4

...and then later that day at a prayer meeting (not led by me) that scripture surfaced again. 

I get it. I need to rejoice. Then a week or so later I stumbled across the above CS Lewis quote. Yep, ouch. Do we really think about the command to rejoice as a COMMAND? 

I don’t. Not most of the time.  

“Rejoice” is one of those flowerful words that has worked its way into my hearing, but doesn’t happen regularly in my week.  I guess I thought of it more as a suggestion, something we should do – you know, perhaps like flossing.  (All you daily flossers, quit judging me. My dental hygienist said I did a good job flossing btw…fooled her. Perhaps that is what I really think about rejoicing. I should do it – and I do it some, so yeah – that’s enough. – i.know-.longest.parenthetical.note.ever.)

Who can "rejoice always" anyway? I don’t know about you, but I encounter people regularly who have dealt with real pain, and rejoicing in some of their circumstances seems, well – impossible.*

This falls into that group of pesky scriptures that seem to go a little too far…like forgiving as Christ forgave you, loving your enemies, praying continually, etc. Shouldn’t God have made sure we could fulfill all He commands us to do? That would definitely up our stats. It’s funny how the things He asks us to do are beyond our ability. But that’s just the thing-- they are beyond OUR abilities. We absolutely have to depend on His grace, His power, His Spirit’s leading to fulfill the expectations of scripture.  Remember how we were desperately in need of God’s grace to be made right with Him? We are still desperately in need of God’s grace to live rightly in Him.

And-so…God, I’m going to need your help with this. I know that I have a lot to rejoice about. Help me to see things from your perspective. Help me to see things as they really are. Help me not to set my eyes on insignificant things, but to open my eyes to ALL that is in You. I confess my failure to rejoice.

Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say, Rejoice!

Before going live with this I decided to do a little research and make sure I really was getting this right.  (Thanks to Dr. Shaddix who cautioned us to make sure we weren’t saying, “Thus saith the Lord” unless we were sure the Lord said so!!) I take that responsibility very seriously. 

So the consensus is that the command to rejoice really is a command. As in, we don’t get to decide that it is one we are "for" or "against," the type we will obey or attempt to casually ignore.  Also, to my friends like me whose minds go to the exceptions to the rule…yes, scripture says to mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice.  Yes, there are times to mourn! I think the question we really need to ask though is, when we aren’t legitimately mourning, are we rejoicing? How much do we truly rejoice in our lives? Those of us "in Christ" have been brought from death to life, we’ve been given freedom instead of chains, the insurmountable debt against us has been paid, and the One we turned against has forgiven us AND invited us into an intimate relationship with Him. Oh let us rejoice! There are so many reasons to rejoice!

**In my research I came across another great note, especially in light of my comment regarding how hard it is to rejoice in some situations (I think I said *impossible).  Kevin Pierpont noted that God didn’t inspire these words about rejoicing to come through someone who wasn’t familiar with hardship. God chose Paul to proclaim this tough message.

Paul is a great one to call others to rejoice and to emphasize the importance of rejoicing in the Lord. He was one who practiced what he preached. He was in prison when he wrote, “rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice.” He suffered through beatings and shipwrecks and all kinds of hardship yet remained joyful. He’s not one we can say, “well that’s easy for you to say, you don’t know how hard my life is.” Paul knew plenty of difficulty and yet his strength was in the joy of the Lord.

                                                                                  kevinpierpont.com

“This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”  Philippians 4:4