“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks…
These three are not necessarily commands we have to do 100% of the time but rather are postures we should strive for.
So how can we Rejoice always?
Does this mean that we are always happy no matter what happens? That we are those obnoxiously positive people who are smiling even as their house is burning down? No.
Rather, you begin to look for the good in the bad. Even if the good is barely perceivable at first. Finding the good to be grateful for is hard. Sometimes it takes a great amount of effort and work to find it.
That’s why the second posture is so important, pray continually.
There may be times that all we have is to ask God to show us the tiny sliver of good that is in the situation. And even then you may struggle to find good. But by fixing your eyes on God you will remember that through it all God is good and that is cause enough to rejoice always.
Have you ever searched for Waldo in the “Where’s Waldo” books? That’s a great way to illustrate this idea. There is chaos going all around but we choose to block it all out to find Waldo. And when you do finally find Waldo, how do you feel?
So why wouldn’t we choose to find the good so we can rejoice always?