Saturday, February 8
Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22)
As he comes to the end of this letter, Paul moves the discussion from the Thessalonians’ interpersonal relationships with one another to their spiritual relationship with God. He gives a series of eight commands directed at each member’s devotion to God. All these commands are stated in the present tense, calling for continuous action. Therefore, these are not habits that the Christian is to practice occasionally; these are identifying characteristics that mark a Christian’s life. Paul underscores this fact when he asserts, “For this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.”
The first command is to be joyful, always. For many Christians, the command to “always be joyful” is perplexing. Christians like to talk about such biblical truths but often struggle to put them into practice. Given life’s hurts, pains, and sorrows, we may legitimately question how a person could always rejoice. The answer is not as difficult as it may appear. Joy is not something that we work on; joy is something that we live in. We are able to experience constant joy because of the presence of God’s Spirit in you (Galatians 5:22). Our joy is never generated from the outside in but always from the inside out.
God can command us to always be joyful because He is our joy. I believe that happiness takes the character of its source. And since God is the source of the joy that He commands, we can always be joyful because God is sovereignly provident. There’s nothing that happens in our lives that is under the hand and plan of God. No matter what we go through, our joy is God and God is our joy.
Doing the Word
Always be joyful.
Prayer
Dear Father, help me to follow the instructions and commands in Your Book. Help me to find my joy in You. Help me to always be joyful in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.