“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” – Philippians 4:4. Really? Always rejoice? Always have joy? Don’t you know what I’m going through? Sometimes it’s hard to imagine being able to rejoice when the stresses, pains, and anxieties of life start to pile up. Yet Paul writes this beautiful, joy-filled letter to the Philippians, and he writes it from a jail cell! He writes it to a church that is suffering, poor, and persecuted. God gives this letter to us too. Rejoice! 

We’ll see that regardless of our current situation, Christ has blessed us. He gives us partners for encouragement as we work together. No matter what is going on, life, death, and everything in between, Christ gives us a positive perspective. It’s all good. 

When we take a close look at how Jesus was willing to go the cross for us, it gives us a new “others focused” attitude. We’re encouraged by the example of other Christians, and we’ll join them as we shine like stars in a dark world, holding out the word of life. We can have joy because our value isn’t based on our achievement, it’s based on Christ’s righteousness. We can press on and finish strong because Christ has won the race and carried us to victory. Feeling anxiety or emptiness? God’s word will give peace and contentment. When we realize we have everything we need, we want to share.