Rejoice in the Lord
"Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you." (Philippians 3:1 ESV)
One short verse. That is all we had time to discuss at Bible Study today. But what a significant verse! It has already impacted me. Today, I want to share thoughts on this verse phrase by phrase. Please feel free to join the conversation by commenting on the blog or sending me an email.
Finally - This seems like a strange thing to say in the middle of the book of Philippians. Two chapters down and two more to go. This is not the final thing that Paul is going to write.... but maybe it has a sense of finality. My paraphrase/ideas: "The end of everything is..." "The big deal is..." "Whatever comes next, whatever happens..."
my brothers - Paul is addressing the church, the family of God. This "brothers" most definitely includes the sisters in Christ as well.
rejoice in the Lord - That's it! Paul's main exhortation through Philippians: find and take great delight in the Lord. Other ways to say it are: "be glad in God" and "be pleased with who God is and what He does". But what if I don't feel joy in God? There is so much that could be said about this but I will keep it to two comments. First, take time to get to know the Lord - as He is revealed in Scripture - and bring what you find of Him and compare it with what is the source of your lack of joy in Him. You may need to wrestle with both the Lord and yourself before you are able to rejoice in Him. Second, I believe that rejoicing is like love. It is both a feeling and an action. If I don't feel delight in the Lord, I can take the step of faith and state (I prefer out loud but this can also be done internally) the character and actions of God. I fix my attention on Him through praise and gratitude.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me - Paul can gladly say "rejoice in the Lord" again and again. Although this is such an important command for the Philippians - and us - to obey, Paul's tone is not the "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!?!...." tone of a frustrated parent. He has no problem directing them again and again to the concept of finding their delight in God. He also has no problem warning them against evildoers as he does in Philippians 3:2 (but that is a topic for another blog!)
and is safe for you. - In my current work at a women's shelter for survivors of domestic violence, safety is our number one priority so the word "safe" jumped out at me. I looked it up in my concordance and realized that the Greek word "asphales" has a definition of "certain or secure". It comes from two Greek words that when put together means "won't trip up". This encouraged me to think about rejoicing in the Lord and how it is a safe/secure thing for me to do that won't trip me up spiritually or emotionally. Rejoicing in the Lord is a really good thing! So why, then, do I have a feeling of emotional danger when I think of the question "But what if I don't feel joy in God?" Is it really safe for me to rejoice when I don' t feel like it - as I suggested as my second point above? I think this depends on what a person does with the idea that rejoice is also an action - a verb - something we can enact. If I think it means I am pretending, then no, is it not safe for me. It is not spiritually safe to "fake delight in God". That type of acting is a performance for others, ourselves, and even God - but He and if we are honest with ourselves, we, see through it. On the other hand, if we understand enact to mean the translation of belief into action, then I believe it is safe. We set our wills in line with our belief - that God is to be delighted in - and the actions that follow demonstrate joy in the Lord even if our current emotions don't feel joyful in the moment. My experience of this is that once I start taking actions consistent with rejoicing in God, the emotions follow along.
Those are my thoughts on this verse for today. I hope they will be an encouragement to you.
with joy in Christ,
Tracy
One short verse. That is all we had time to discuss at Bible Study today. But what a significant verse! It has already impacted me. Today, I want to share thoughts on this verse phrase by phrase. Please feel free to join the conversation by commenting on the blog or sending me an email.
Finally - This seems like a strange thing to say in the middle of the book of Philippians. Two chapters down and two more to go. This is not the final thing that Paul is going to write.... but maybe it has a sense of finality. My paraphrase/ideas: "The end of everything is..." "The big deal is..." "Whatever comes next, whatever happens..."
my brothers - Paul is addressing the church, the family of God. This "brothers" most definitely includes the sisters in Christ as well.
rejoice in the Lord - That's it! Paul's main exhortation through Philippians: find and take great delight in the Lord. Other ways to say it are: "be glad in God" and "be pleased with who God is and what He does". But what if I don't feel joy in God? There is so much that could be said about this but I will keep it to two comments. First, take time to get to know the Lord - as He is revealed in Scripture - and bring what you find of Him and compare it with what is the source of your lack of joy in Him. You may need to wrestle with both the Lord and yourself before you are able to rejoice in Him. Second, I believe that rejoicing is like love. It is both a feeling and an action. If I don't feel delight in the Lord, I can take the step of faith and state (I prefer out loud but this can also be done internally) the character and actions of God. I fix my attention on Him through praise and gratitude.
To write the same things to you is no trouble to me - Paul can gladly say "rejoice in the Lord" again and again. Although this is such an important command for the Philippians - and us - to obey, Paul's tone is not the "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!?!...." tone of a frustrated parent. He has no problem directing them again and again to the concept of finding their delight in God. He also has no problem warning them against evildoers as he does in Philippians 3:2 (but that is a topic for another blog!)
and is safe for you. - In my current work at a women's shelter for survivors of domestic violence, safety is our number one priority so the word "safe" jumped out at me. I looked it up in my concordance and realized that the Greek word "asphales" has a definition of "certain or secure". It comes from two Greek words that when put together means "won't trip up". This encouraged me to think about rejoicing in the Lord and how it is a safe/secure thing for me to do that won't trip me up spiritually or emotionally. Rejoicing in the Lord is a really good thing! So why, then, do I have a feeling of emotional danger when I think of the question "But what if I don't feel joy in God?" Is it really safe for me to rejoice when I don' t feel like it - as I suggested as my second point above? I think this depends on what a person does with the idea that rejoice is also an action - a verb - something we can enact. If I think it means I am pretending, then no, is it not safe for me. It is not spiritually safe to "fake delight in God". That type of acting is a performance for others, ourselves, and even God - but He and if we are honest with ourselves, we, see through it. On the other hand, if we understand enact to mean the translation of belief into action, then I believe it is safe. We set our wills in line with our belief - that God is to be delighted in - and the actions that follow demonstrate joy in the Lord even if our current emotions don't feel joyful in the moment. My experience of this is that once I start taking actions consistent with rejoicing in God, the emotions follow along.
Those are my thoughts on this verse for today. I hope they will be an encouragement to you.
with joy in Christ,
Tracy
Thank you, Tracy, for sharing SO MUCH from such a few words! Really interesting to think about the use of the word "safe" (and its meanings) here.
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