Again I say, Rejoice!

The Church has many problems and writers have done a good job defining them. Troubles are stacked like cord wood beside a country door. We carry them into our religious conversations and let them burn with a fanned flame. The difference is that the wood disappears but our troubles only become greater.

What if we take the whole stack of church problems at one time and seek a common solution. This is a strange thing to say but the solution might be to ignite our troubles with the flame of rejoicing. Obviously, problems do not cause rejoicing but we could rejoice if there were some overriding force involved.

Consider the word "rejoice". To gladden, to glory, and to delight are feelings caused by some outside source. Of course, we know that God is the source of our rejoicing but we need to word it in a personal way. Look at it this way, rejoicing is "the spirit" of our union with God. Wow, our merger with God produces a characteristic of rejoicing that can overide our troubles.

Everything in this world is being shaken along with the Church. The element of fear is growing because no one can handle our problems. Many people have given up watching the news reports because it makes them feel badly. The uncertainty of our future really bothers Americans. We worry about our family, our job, our church and all kinds of things in this world. However, something exciting is happening in the haze of our crises that causes believers to be different.

These few people sleep in perfect peace at night and are happy during the day. They have merged with God and have developed a characteristic of rejoicing.

Fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Phil 4:4

This is not a command because rejoicing is a response of something pleasing. It must be a reminder for us to value "the spirit" of our union with God. Humans are very forgetful creatures so we must try to remember the good things God has placed in our lives.