Be Joyful!!!

Friday, October 9, 2009 at 12:35pm

So, a brother shared 1 Thess 5:16-17 with a few of us at midweek this past Wednesday. As he was explaining why he shared it, my eyes latched on to the fact that v16 is only 3 words. In most cases, a verse is at least a sentence and a half or two, sometimes more. But in this case, it is only 3 words. The fact that God decided to dedicate a whole verse to just those 3 words when he could have been more efficient stuck out to me, as if he did it for emphasis. Kind of in the same way that a movie director holds the camera on a very minor detail for a few seconds too long, and you know that it is going to have some sort of significance later on in the movie.

Anyway, the conclusion that I came to is one that I had already realized before, but seeing it there under this light just drove the nail in that much deeper. "BE JOYFUL ALWAYS." No matter what the circumstance, no matter how good or bad you're doing, you have to decide to be joyful. Seems to me like it's a command, not just a suggestion, so God is pretty much saying "Suck it up, be a man/woman about it, pick up your cross and BE JOYFUL."