Rejoice
Scripture 4:2-9
2 I entreat Euodia and I
entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. 3 Yes,
I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side
with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose
names are in the book of life.
4 Rejoice in the Lord
always; again, I will say, rejoice. 5 Let
your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be made known to God. 7 And
the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if
there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned
and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of
peace will be with you. [1]
Devotion
Paul begins the next passage by
trying to settle a quarrel between two Christian sisters. He asks the church to
intervene to bring peace to the situation before it grows out of control. He
mentions Clement at other fellow workers in the faith to bring calm and peace
to the situation. As we can see church infighting is as old as the church.
Then Paul’s attention turns toward
the theme of the letter. Urging the Philippians were to rejoice and again he
repeats the command to rejoice. “Christians should be known as joyful people. Such joy resides not in
circumstances or positive attitudes toward life. Joy reigns in the heart only
when Christ is Lord of life. Joy is always in the Lord.[2]”
It is difficult to rejoice in the current time, but the Greek here is in the imperative,
so we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord. We have much to rejoice over. We
have life, food, shelter, family and dozens of other things we can be thankful for.
Next
Paul urges us not to be anxious about anything. We are to bring our anxieties
to the Lord in prayer. Today we are stuck at home while this virus has its way
in the world. There seems to be much to be anxious about, but we must remember
that God is still on the throne and he hears our prayers and gives his children
who will come to him in prayer a peace that goes beyond anything we could hope
or imagine.
Paul
then finishes his admonition to the Philippians by urging them to think (again the
verb is in the imperative) about things that are true, honorable, just, pure,
lovely, commendable. If there is anything of excellence, commendable, anything
worthy of praise. These are the things we are to meditate on. Not the illness
total or the death total from this virus rather rejoice in the things that are
positive this will help you avoid the depression. (Take it from someone {me} who
has suffered clinical depression what you think about affects your mood.)
Finally,
Paul urges his readers to imitate him. We can take courage knowing that no
matter what happened to Paul. Whether it be shipwrecks, beatings, stoning or
his current circumstance of being a prisoner Paul always was rejoicing. In good
times and maybe especially in bad let Paul be our example in life. If he could
rejoice being in prisoned, then surly we can stand being more or less stuck at
home.
“Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice, may we have much joy in these days of staying home. If we
do this the peace of God is sure to find us and comfort us in these days.
[2] Max
Anders, Galatians-Colossians,
vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1999), 261.
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