Re-Joy

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:16-18 NASB

After being sick for a week, I was messaging with a friend and was reminded of this passage. I stopped in my tracks. Okay, being sick I wasn’t going very fast on any track, but it got my attention. I’m not proud to admit this, but only twice in that whole week did I turn on my worship music or listen to a sermon or Christian podcast. I certainly wasn’t rejoicing. My prayers were mainly coming out as moans in the middle of the night as I tossed and turned. And I was far from expressing any gratitude.

All of that would be what I call hardcore Christianity. And I realized that I am far from it. Most of us are – it’s okay, this is a safe place – you can admit it. We’ve been trained for a long time to reach for the medicine cabinet before calling out to God. We Google our symptoms instead of reminding ourselves of God’s promises. A fever comes on us and we might let it burn for a little while, but then we’re grabbing a fever reducer instead of simply asking God for His touch. Waking up coughing in the middle of the night sends me looking for a cough drop, but shouldn’t I first look to the One who created me?

Being home while fighting any bug gives a person a lot of time to think. I started focusing on the word rejoice. In the Old Testament, this word has several versions that all mean something a little different. From spinning around to comforting oneself, rejoice is a word with layers. There are even words that denote rejoicing as being spontaneous or planned. But the main takeaway is that to rejoice is to be glad, happy, or joyful.

We make jokes all the time in our home, making fun of the English language. The rules that only work a fraction of the time, the common mistakes people make with spelling, and the prefix and suffix rules that don’t always apply are the main targets. It’s as though no one could make up their mind – then again, that’s what happened when three Germanic tribes invaded Britain.

Here we have the word rejoice, but I can’t look at the word without seeing re-joy – to have joy again. Anyone else? And a big thanks goes to suffix rules! We’re not even going to touch spelling and phonics. 

In the New Testament, the Greek word, chairó, is the main word used for rejoice (Strong’s G5463). It is a verb – a word of action – that is often used even as a greeting. But looking a little deeper, it is also an action word that means to delight in God’s grace, to experience His favor, and to be glad for His grace.

That’s a whole lot better than my feeble attempt of having joy again. To delight in God’s grace… to experience His favor… to be glad for His grace.

But what does that look like when you’re battling? What does that look like when you’re hit with bad news after bad news? I know I wasn’t feeling or thinking any of that when it was the middle of the night, and I was caught up with some serious chills. What about the times that you’ve approached the throne and walked away, seemingly emptyhanded?

I bet it looks a lot like Paul and Silas singing some praise songs while sitting in a prison cell. Take a minute to read Acts 16:22-30. They were stripped and beaten in the middle of the marketplace, and then shackled inside the inner prison. They were certainly bruised and quite possibly bleeding, but they prayed and started singing hymns of praise to God.

We have a tendency to look at how Paul and Silas responded to a bad situation – a painful situation in every way – and compare it to how we typically respond. What causes this disconnect? We wonder why our faith isn’t as strong, or we start looking at the ways we fail or don’t quite measure up. Perhaps we’ve just heard too much of a diluted gospel. I want to rejoice in the bad times just as much as I do in the good times. And I bet you want that, too.

Let me ask, do you ever include in your conversations with God verbiage of Lord, I’m so unworthy...? It takes a lot to change how we pray, but we will pray how we believe, won’t we? As I type this out, I want you to really hear it (because I’m listening intently as well):

Jesus made you worthy. He has qualified you. He has brought you into His kingdom as an heir. You have been made worthy. Jesus gave us the right to know God as Father and not just as Lord. This must be something that Paul and Silas knew in their core – something we almost always tie to our performance.

My kiddos do not struggle through the night with a nightmare, growing pains, or sickness and wait till morning to tell us about it. No, they come to the side of our bed in the middle of the night and wake us up to offer their complaints and hope for a solution. And one or both of us (usually my hubby) will get up and take care of them. Why would we think our access to God is any different?

We need to shake the lie that our relationship with God hinges on our performance. That might help release our gratitude. The book of Ephesians repeatedly tells us that we are in Him, that He is in us, or that we have something supernatural in Him. He doesn’t come and go based on our behavior. As soon as we accept Him, He will never leave us!

 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:4-10 NLT

I don’t know about you, but this is more than sufficient cause to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks. This is the undiluted grace of God that we’re to delight in. This is experiencing His favor. It’s time to rejoice. Or, as I like to say, it’s time to re-joy.