Rejoice
There’s a hymn, Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, and the chorus goes like this:
Rejoice! rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice,
Rejoice! rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice.
The Message translation of the Bible puts it like this: 4 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
But when I look around me I don’t see that many glad and joyful people.
Many look for joy in all the wrong places. Many live for the weekend only, because they only find joy in the things they do over weekends. After the weekend there is no joy left. And that is why their weekend is normally followed by a blue Monday. To shorten the time to the weekend, Wednesday is called little Saturday.
Yes, we can look for joy in really wrong places.
Don’t we realize our joy does not come from within us? Joy that come from us are short-lived, it has an expiry date. It’s lightweight, easily blown away, and then we’re in sackcloth and ashes again.
A friend of mine died last night. She was in her forties and battled with cancer almost 15 years. As I sit and write, a picture of her pops into my mind. It’s a picture of someone who knew where real joy came from, who lived her life to the fullest with an enormous smile on her face. Given only half a chance, she would grab anybody and dance. I can still see her turning and swooping in time with the music …
Ah!
We shouldn’t allow circumstances to dictate our mood. Jesus determines our frame of mind. Consider your sin. Consider where you were going. Consider the punishment you should’ve gotten and that you deserve. Consider that Jesus took that punishment for you. Just the thought of our Saviour who had opened the gates of heaven for us should make us dance with real joy.
But we are human and the smallest accident that we face flattens us. But we have a responsibility to pick ourselves up and shift our focus to our Saviour. Then real joy and peace will flatten us.
Even with the sword over her head my friend kept on smiling. And I know she’s dancing with everybody in heaven. Her life was an example of what it means to find your joy in the Lord. Yes, she overflowed with happiness because she belonged to the Lord.
I salute you, Dereen! You taught me and our friends what it really means to find your joy in Jesus and God. I glorify God for your life.
And in my mind I’m singing:
Rejoice! rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice,
Rejoice! rejoice!
Rejoice in the Lord and rejoice.
Reflection
Where do you find joy?
Does it go up and down?
What does Jesus have to do with it?
Prayer
Jesus, how glad I am about You. I realize I should focus on You only, because my joy will come from You too. Please help me not to be blinded by my circumstances, but to keep my eyes on You. Then I will be glad. Then my life will overflow with joy. Amen
