By Allen White
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let
your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Philippians 4:4-5 (NKJV)
If we practiced this passage daily, it seems like nearly an
impossible task. We all have days when we feel like neither rejoicing nor being
gentle. Yet, the enforcement, if you will, is “The Lord is at hand.” Yikes!
Let’s take this passage the other direction. When do we not feel
like rejoicing? Well, when things are not going the way we planned. When do we
not feel gentle? In general, we don’t feel gentle, but we especially don’t feel
gentle when we’re stressed out. But, now look at that last line: “The Lord is
at hand.” His presence is near. His return is relatively soon. This tells us
two things: What we’re going through will not last forever. And, whatever we’re
going through God is with us.
So, what do we have to rejoice about? First, we can rejoice that
the Lord is near. Then, we can rejoice about all of the things in our lives
that aren’t going wrong. Are you breathing? Can you eat today? Is your internet
service working? Count your blessings! And as far as gentleness goes, when we
know that God is with us, we can be calm. We don’t need to be harsh. We don’t
need to be abrupt. If it’s still a challenge, well, then we can ask for some
gentleness.
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