Reason to Rejoice

 

The book of Philippians has an unusual characteristic. Paul was in prison when this letter was penned. Yet, while his circumstances were less than desirable, his letter was written on the theme of joy. He wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

Even amid unpleasant surroundings, Paul found a reason to rejoice. The takeaway we gain from this letter is that we too can rejoice always regardless of our outward circumstances. Let us consider some of the reasons we have to rejoice.

Christ died for us. The apostle Paul wrote, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). Because of what Jesus accomplished for us, we can be set free from the bondage of sin.

This is significant when we consider the high price of sin. Jesus stated, “…Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” (John 8:34). Paul also declared, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23).

Everyone will experience difficult days. We all endure unpleasant circumstances.  However, no matter what occurs in this life, our soul can be made right with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Man can take away a lot of things from us, but our salvation is not one of them! This gives us great reason to rejoice.

Our names are written in Heaven. The seventy returned to Jesus with great joy in their hearts. They exclaimed, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” (Luke 10:17). Jesus responded, “…Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (vs. 20)

We will have many reasons to rejoice in this life. We will set goals; we will achieve them. and will rejoice greatly over them. While this is certainly alright to do, Jesus gives us our real reason to rejoice. We rejoice for our names are written in heaven. There is no other joy or experience that comes close to the knowledge of this that we have through Christ.

The way we know our names are written in heaven is through our faithfully following the word of God. When we put our faith in Jesus (John 8:24), we repent of our sins (Acts 17:30), we confess the name of Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38), our names are then added to the number (Acts 2:47). Then, if we are faithful to the Lord unto the very end, we will receive the crown of life (Revelation 2:10).

It is a great comfort to know that as we travel through life, we do so with reasons to rejoice. Reasons that we can forfeit but can never be taken from us.

God Bless each of you,

Eric Hicks