Unbound
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
Philippians 4:4 (NIV)

You can celebrate God every day, all day, and it’ll look like you are at a festive party making a lot of noise. Because while you can know everything is not all right with life, you know everything is right with God.

Read this again in another translation: “Most of all, friends, always, always rejoice in the Lord.” Paul comes behind it with double emphasis. What is abundantly clear in Paul’s instruction is that he’s not offering this as a suggestion. He’s not giving this out as a consideration. The way it is written, it is a command.

But why does God sometimes have to issue us commands even though He’s given to us free will? Here’s why: sometimes He takes your choice and tells you what He wants. Why? Because if He doesn’t make it a command, you would never choose it.

Most of us would not readily make the choice every day to respond to all life’s experiences with joy. But because God knows He’s working it for your good, He commands you to rejoice because you don’t even know you should say thank you, let alone rejoice! He makes it a command, which makes living with this kind of joy not always a choice, but an obedient response.

You are responding to God’s command when you rejoice always. You are responding to what pleases God with regard to your actions and reactions in life. You are responding to His presence in all the varied seasons of your life. You are responding to how compassionately He has received you, how intentionally He loves you, how surgically He corrects you, how responsibly He rescues you, how repetitively He forgives you, how completely He restores you, how consistently He blesses you, how providentially He leads you.

Your joy is a result of the feeling that you have the freedom to respond to God’s command in your life.