You are not captive to circumstance.

I’ve become a news grazer.

I glance at the headlines, but words like virus, revenge, and murder flood the screen. A click of the mouse and I am transported to hopelessness. And isn’t that what the Enemy would like for me to see? Feel? Believe?

But I know better.

You are not captive to circumstance, I remind myself. You are not kidnapped by the temporary. There is more than what you see or experience. Remember the eternal promise of hope through Jesus. I nod and glance around the room but only Dandy, the chocolate lab, peers at me from beneath sleepy Labrador lids.

With a swipe of a button, I read the words from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

What Causes a Lack of Joy?

Happiness came more easily in the pre-Covid world. Health was almost certain, jobs seemed secure, and life was predictable. Now? None of those are true.

Joy is not what happens to us as much as it is what has been done for us and many of us–including Christ followers–have forgotten this truth.

It’s understandable. When our minds are filled with hopelessness, joylessness tends to follow. But I am convinced Christians have reason to celebrate. To rejoice. To “be filled with gladness again”. Common causes of joylessness often include death, loss, grief, illness, fear, rejection. Jesus overcome them all. We have been rescued from…

• death to eternal life- If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. (Romans 10:9-10)
• defenseless to invulnerability- He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18)
• weariness to renewal-But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.(Isaiah 40:31)
• brokenness to wholeness-The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.(Psalm 34:17-20)
• trepidation to security – “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
• grief to hope- “And regarding the question, friends, that has come up about what happens to those already dead and buried, we don’t want you in the dark any longer. First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13)

            Paul wasn’t attempting to put a happy face on a difficult situation. Instead, the apostle was writing to a church that knew poverty and understood persecution. Even in these dire circumstances, the man who would suffer imprisonment, stonings, snake bites, and shipwrecks exhorted the believers–“rejoice always”.

He knew that remembering our cause for celebration removes our eyes from what is seen to the unseen reality of the Way of Jesus. May we have eyes to see more clearly day by day.

Peace and grace,

Tammy

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