Rejoice

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 NASB)

God’s grace is truly amazing. When I think back to His mercy and the patience He has shown me even when I should have known better, my heart is fills with joy and praise. The word in Greek for rejoice is χαίρω (chairo) and comes from the same root as the words in Greek for grace and joy. Not surprising. God’s grace gives us a license to be joyful, outside of ourselves, in spite of our failings; we can, as Paul commands, rejoice. You have permission.

We might even say, delight in God’s grace! Rest in it. Lean on it. I’ll say it again, delight in God’s grace. Augustine did. Over sixteen hundred years ago he wrote his “Confessions”, an uber-honest and transparent narrative on God’s amazing work in his wandering life. Raised by and prayed for a Christian mother, Augustine went his own way into the world of education and philosophy. This world was not all it promised to be, and eventually he would leave the hollow promises and lies of the educational institutions he was so ingrained in and return to the place where he would find true rest; faith in Christ.

Throughout his Confessions, Augustine not only brings light to his sin, but also confesses (and we must do this at times as well) the mercy of God, “my God, to whom I make confession of your mercies”. In all of his confessions, we see the miraculous work of the Lord Almighty. Glory is given to His amazing grace.

And so it is with your life, you who are Christian. God’s amazing grace, no matter how often you must draw from it, is given praise as it takes root in and changes your life. I know it has in mine. A man of many addictions, sinking deeper the harder I tried to pull myself out, saw the grace of God, as I embraced it, reach down and pull me slowly out of the pit of despair. The mirror of our failings does nothing to rescue us and leads only to further hopelessness. I have reason to rejoice, I have reason to delight in the grace of God. And so do you.

What do we lean on when faced with life’s unsurety? What props us up when inner turmoil strikes? What holds our focus? We can rejoice in the Lord. Always, we can delight in His grace; consider it, think on it. It is a never ending balm lavished upon us who are united with Christ. Its riches flow like a great inheritance to a rightful beneficiary.

Many years ago before I was married, after feeling completely done with myself, discourage and condemned, I asked the Lord, “have I gone too far from you?”. I remember walking into a college class I was taking at the time carrying the burden of that question with me. Had I gone too far? But the grace of God was to come to me in a song with an answer. During class my now wife had switched cars with me. I came out of my class, opened the door, sat in the seat, and started the car. That’s when the song started playing. My wife had been listening to music, and this is where the song started playing -

Whatever you've done you can't go too far
That His eyes of mercy can't see where you are
He loves you too much to leave you alone
You're flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone
And His heart cries out for your heart today
See yourself through His eyes and then you can say

Beautiful that's how mercy saw me …

(Mercy Saw Me, Geron Davis & Becky Davis)

God loves the prodigal. In fact, there is rejoicing over one of His lambs that returns to the safety of His arms. Heaven rejoices and so should we for the grace of God has rescued us. We have reason to rejoice.

Scripture References

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1:4-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬)

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8)

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. (Ephesians 1:5,6 NIV)

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV)

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