What does rejoicing mean to you? What does it look like? What does it feel like? Is it something you do every day? Are you gentle? Or are you rash, excitable, or over bearing? Do you know what it means to be gentle? Do you know that God is near?
We typically think of rejoicing as being happy about something. And honestly, that is a good way to think of it. Unfortunately, we get caught up in the day-to-day happenings and forget we have a reason to rejoice every day. How would our days go if we were to rejoice each morning when we wake up?
If we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, if we have given our lives to Him, we have reason for rejoicing. We have a promise of spending eternity with Him. That is something to be joyful about. It is something we can look forward to every day. We also have the promise that He will never leave us. He is always with us. Therefore, we can rejoice that He is with as we go through our day no matter what happens.
What does it mean to be gentle? The word translated as gentleness in today’s passage can also be translated as considerate. Being considerate of others can be a challenge sometimes. Yet, we want others to be considerate of us. Being considerate takes a little effort. Rather immediately jumping to conclusions or being judgmental of others, we need to take time to think about why they did something we disapprove. Looking at it from every angle we can think of will help us be considerate toward others. We may still disapprove, but we can do so with a gentle and understanding spirit. We can explain why their reasoning was faulty.
Finally, we must remember Jesus is always with us. That means He is with us when we rejoice and when we are sad. He is with us when we are considerate and when we are being judgmental. He is with us when we wake up, giving us reason to start our day rejoicing.
I pray we all rejoice in the Lord each morning when we wake up. I pray we are considerate of others, just as we want them to be considerate of us. I pray each one of us remember Jesus is always with us. Rejoice every day. Be considerate of others. Know that Jesus is always with you.
Philippians 4:4-5 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
Marty Pressey 