Joy Suckers

In Philippians 4, the apostle Paul doesn't just tell the church in Philippi to rejoice. He commands them to do so with an emphatic "!" behind the order.

Why do we need an order to be joyful? Shouldn't that just come naturally to us?

I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget about my reasons to be joyous and Paul's emphatic command to rejoice is just the kick in the pants that I need to remember the true victory I share with my sisters and brothers in Christ.

Sometimes I forget and let my emotions get me down. I think this is natural for human beings. Sometimes I forget and let immediate circumstances drive my attitude, not the heavenly circumstances. Those are typically those moments when I say words I wish I could pull back in. Those are the moments when I speak in anger when I should sit in silence.

The joy that comes from knowing Christ has a way of making earthly things that can upset us seem so trivial. When I compare trivial, temporal issues to the all surpassing grace and love bestowed on me by a living God, I feel like schmuck for even worrying about those issues.

Sometimes when we talk about joy suckers--those things that really prevent us from being able to REJOICE--we automatically go to external things. I'm thinking of things like illness, conflicts with others, stress at work, etc.

However, I think that one of the biggest joy suckers out there is just plain busy-ness. We are so busy. Schedules packed, bags packed, I'll see you when I see you relationships with loved ones.

Busy-ness leads to spiritual numbness. It's almost as if we are addicted to "busy". When we are "busy" we have an excuse to ignore the issues in our lives that most deeply need addressed. When we are "busy" we have "more important" things to do.

Busy leads to apathy. Apathy is the biggest joy sucker of them all. I don't rejoice, frankly, because I don't care.

How do we remedy this? Apathy can only be effectively neutralized when we're kicked in the seat of the pants. Hence the need for Paul's command. He knew what it was like to be lulled into apathy! He sat for days and months in a jail cell all by himself. He walked across southern Europe to spread the Gospel (you don't think some of those afternoons on the roads of Greece and elsewhere were totally boring? C'mon, no iPods!)

Paul understood a simple principle for humans on the faith journey. Simply put, we regularly need reminded of our reasons to rejoice. Hence, liturgy, worship, etc.

Even our commitment to daily prayer and devotion acts as a reminder for us that God is good, that He loves us, and that He's taken great pains a (literally) to save us.

So, please: REJOICE!! Even if you don't feel like it. You can, because the Big Guy has things under control.