LET US REJOICE

The Bible has many passages that exhort us to rejoice. Let’s look at a few. Romans 12:12 tells us, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Philippians 4:4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”I Thessalonians 5:16 puts it in three words,“Be joyful always.” We know that Paul wasn’t enjoying the easiest times in his life when he wrote some of these exhortations. We should be able to conclude from that fact that circumstances shouldn’t dictate our joy. I think that Paul might be telling us that joy comes from an inner peace that circumstances shouldn’t control.

Of course, people are different. Some take a rather pessimistic view of life and see most everything in a negative light. The glass is always half-full. Then there are those who are optimist and try to find the best in everything. There is the story of the circuit-riding preacher who lived entirely off free-will offerings as he preached from town to town. He was asked to speak in a church that was looking for a new pastor. He came to speak under the same circumstances as always – for a free-will offering. When that time came he passed his hat around. When it came back it was empty, not a dime had come in. Being an optimist and always looking for the best he bowed his head in prayer saying, “Lord, I thank you that these people returned my hat.”

In the first three verses of I John 3 he gives us several things we can be thankful for. Let’s consider three of them.

First we can rejoice in the love of God.“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us..” I John 3:1a. I don’t believe the human mind can fully appreciate or even fully comprehend the love of God. The song writer was correct when he penned the words, “The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell, it goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell… Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skies of parchment made, were ev’ry stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the whole tho stretched from sky to sky.” We so easily forget what it cost God to bring us salvation. We easily forget what Christ endured to pay the price. For those of us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we can say, “He saved us!” As undeserving as we are, He saved us from our sin!

The fact that God saved us gives us worth. What a blessing to know that our worth is based upon what God has done for us, what He thinks of us, not what the world thinks of us. In this we can rejoice!

Secondly we can rejoice because we are called the children of God. “…that we should be called children of God!” I John 3:1b. The Bible knows nothing of the “Universal Brotherhood of Man.” In fact, Jesus Christ told one particular group, “You belong to your father, the devil…” John 8:44. If you are going to belong to the family of God you must be born again. Christ confirmed this in John 3:3 when He said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Peter said in his first Epistle, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring Word of God.” I Peter 1:23. When and if we accept Jesus Christ as our only Lord and Savior, we can know we are a child of God and that’s something worth rejoicing over. This world may put an untold number of trials and obstacles in our way, but these can never take away the pure joy of being a child of God.

Thirdly, I would point out that we can rejoice in the blessings of God. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” I John 3:2 Think of all we have in store: A home in heaven, in the presence of Christ. “…if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” John 14:3. We walk the streets of gold, Revelation 21:21. We will have a reunion with those who have passed on before us, I Thessalonians 4:13-18. There will be no more pain, no more suffering, and no more tears, Revelation 7:17. What a day that will be!

We have much to rejoice about. Let us never allow the world to rob of us the joy that is ours in Christ.