“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” (Philippians 4:4)

We live in a sad, stressful, confusing time.  That is true of some people all of the time, and not just now.  Right now, I suspect that it is true of all people all the time.

So, I am trying to memorize and live out Philippians 4:4-9.  Here is how this portion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians goes:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

(Philippians 4:4–9 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version

Now, it is easy to say, “Well that is easy for Paul to say!  He must have been having a really good day when he wrote this!”

Actually, Paul was in prison.  He had no idea how his case would turn out.  Then too, Paul was writing to a small group of believers in Philippi, whose lives were by no means easy.  But despite Paul being in the slammer, and the Philippians having a rough time, he commands them—and yes, it is an imperative in the Greek—to rejoice.

I doubt that the Philippians were very inclined to rejoice.  Whenever Paul (or anyone else in the Bible) commands someone to do something, it is almost always because they weren’t.  That is, they weren’t doing what he was commanding them to do.

Paul is very emphatic about this command, and he expects rejoicing to be their regular habit.  He reinforces the command in a number of ways. For one thing, the Greek verb translated “rejoice” is in the present tense, which does not simply mean “in the present” or “right now,” as it does in our language.  Rather, the Greek present tense suggests a continual or repetitive action. In other words, Paul is saying that rejoicing is to be a continuous, repetitive, ongoing reality in our lives.  But just in case his readers didn’t get the point, Paul adds the word “always.”  And if they missed that cue, Paul very intentionally repeats himself.  “I say it again: Rejoice!”  Yes, Paul is being rather emphatic—if indeed you can be rather emphatic.

So, can you actually rejoice continually?  Yes, I think you can.  I’ve known a few people who have pulled it off.  They rejoice continually, not because things are going well, but because they choose to be joyful people.  They seem to rejoice in what they have and in what they do not have.

A friend of mine met with a bunch of us this morning through the magic of the Zoom teleconferencing app.  He is a very active, athletic person who does not relish inactivity.  I was kind of concerned about how this might affect him.  I needn’t have worried.  He was full of joy and enthusiasm.  Seems he thinks that this coronavirus is a wonderful opportunity.

Maybe it is.  Joy can be chosen on any given day.  I am choosing joy today.

You?