"Rejoice and leap for joy"

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) Throughout Scripture, we hear this invitation from our Lord, to be joyful, or to rejoice. The word “joy” appears about 60 times in the New Testament and the word “rejoice”, 43 times. It’s clear that the Lord wants us to be a joy filled people. 
As I pray about this I reflect on how often I forget to live into this invitation. Being a full-time missionary in Haiti I often allow the difficulties of living in a developing county to rob me of my joy. Things like not having water for 3 weeks, lack of electricity, the poor education system and lack of quality medical care (#American problems) or the stress that comes from living in a trilingual community with people of all ages and at different stages in life, keep me from rejoicing as the Lord commands me to do.
The Lord invites us to rejoice but He does not promise that everything is going to be happy-go-lucky all the time. Christ rejoiced (Luke 10:21), but He definitely had some difficult times in His life. The crucifixion wasn't the most pleasant experience and being denied by His best friend 3 times was probably very hurtful (Luke 22: 54-60). In fact, in Luke 6:22-23 the Lord makes it clear that we will have some not-so-pleasant times. He informs us that people will hate us and insult us and in the midst of that we are to “Rejoice and leap for joy…” 

To be joyful is a decision and one that I often have to recommit to. As I go through my day and different annoyances and difficulties arise, I am reminded to join my sufferings with that of Christ. In giving my sufferings to Him, He then gives me His very self, and a life with Christ is a life filled with joy. My invitation to you during this season of Advent, as we wait with great anticipation and joy for the coming of our Savior, is to not allow yourself to be robbed of the joy that comes in Christ Jesus so that when He comes He might find you, His beloved, ready and joyfully waiting. 


-Paul

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