Rejoice in the Lord

Philippians 4:2-9

This encouragement to assist those who have labored with Paul for the sake of the Gospel is how today's passage begins, and then our reading today gets its title from this second section: Rejoice in the Lord, always, the Lord is at hand.

Were the Lord at hand, it would give us reasons to rejoice, and so this says He is, and so we do. Do we? It says we are not to be anxious, and yesterday we talked about the fruit of living in the Spirit, that in such a life we would not be anxious. So this is another call to live as if what we have heard and seen is true and worthy of our joy, and inspiring our peace.

This also gives us a way to combat any anxiety we might have, through prayer and by giving thanks we can talk with God, and in so doing can guard our hearts and minds...in Christ Jesus. So this living in Christ Jesus, this thankful prayer, this brings us closer to God, and in living closer to God we can have that joy and peace. That joy and peace that doesn't make sense - but is still there. ...if there is anything worthy of praise think about that.

So, I will not linger on those things for which I don't give thanks, I will be thankful for all the worthy things and people in my day, and this will bring me joy.

There are many of those things if I pay attention.

See you tomorrow.
-maggie