The Choice To Rejoice
“I will rejoice, and I want to share
my joy with all of you. And you should be happy about this and rejoice with
me.” Philippians 2:17
Most people live with an “If/Then” philosophy
about life. If I get to graduate, then
I will be happy. If I get married, then
I will be happy. If I get this job, then
I will be happy. Like
a probing test, you can “fill in the blank.” You get
the point.
Years ago, a women in our church
shared how she used to live in a similar manner. She
used to pray, “Lord, please don’t come
back until I graduate from college.” Then, “Lord,
please don’t come back until I get married.” Then soon, “Lord,
please don’t come back until I have a child.” After many challenges in parenting, she said,
“Even so, Lord, come quickly.”
The joy lesson the Apostle Paul offers,
teaches us that we can find God working in every circumstance. The reason…joy is a decision. In
a sense, you are as joyful as you choose to be.
After all, life is a series of choices.
As I’ve often said, “Choice produces Habits, Habits produce
Actions, Actions produce Lifestyles, and Lifestyles produce Destinies.” There’s no way around it. All large destinies can be traced back to
little choices.
If you are discouraged today, it’s
because you are choosing to be discouraged.
You can choose
to be joyful because there are many things you can be joyful about. God
would say to us, if you learn to be content and you choose to make the right
decisions, you can be joyful. You are as happy as you choose to be. You’re as joyful as you choose to be.
Author John Maxwell shared the
importance of a positive attitude.
A newly married woman insisted on going
to the California desert so she could be near her soldier husband. The only
place the couple could find to live was a rundown shack near an Indian village.
The daytime heat was unbearable -105 degrees in the shade. The dry wind blew
constantly, covering everything with dust. None of the Indians spoke English so the young
wife was miserable. Then she learned that her husband was going further into
the desert for 2 weeks. So, she wrote
her mother and asked if she could come home. In her mother’s reply were these words:
"Two men looked through prison bars; one saw mud, the other saw
stars." As the woman read those lines over and over, she decided
to change. She would look for the stars.
She set out to make friends with the Indians. When they saw her genuine interest, they
taught her weaving and pottery. She learned their culture. Then she began to study
the desert itself-its cacti, Joshua trees, and seashells left behind by the
sands of an ocean floor. Not only did she survive, she became known as an
expert on the area and later published a book about it.
Paul knew a thing or two
about prison bars. Behind of few bars, he saw some stars when he
wrote, “I will rejoice, and I want to
share my joy with all of you. And you should be happy about this and rejoice
with me.” (Philippians 2:17) Rather than writing it from a columned furnished
palace, he was lying in a corroding floor in a prison. Yet, no less than 17 times in four chapters
of Philippians, Paul was saying …because joy is a choice, I am going to make a
choice to rejoice. In other words, you can make the most of
your experience…even when things don’t go right.
Rejoice, we can, for two main reasons.
First, I can always be joyful because God is in control no matter what
happens. Second, I can be assured God
will have the final say in my circumstances. One person said, “JOY” comes when we prioritize “J-esus,” “O-thers,” and “Y-ou,” a good way to keep the joy-gate wide open.
Are you in an
unbearable, inescapable situation? Do you have a negative attitude? Look at the
situation positively and make the best of it with the help of God. Who knows? Like Paul and our Desert Damsel, you
might end up writing a book about it someday.
Terry Risser
Reflections
1) When are you most susceptible to
discouragement?
2) Suggest a reason why joy may be only inches
away if you begin to pray.
Consider reading the word today:
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
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