Perspective In Him: A Holiday Devotional Series
"Will You Rejoice?”
This time of year, we find ourselves wanting to take stock of all the things we are grateful for. We examine the blessings we have in our health, our families, our jobs, our salvation, and so on. But what happens when the things you should be grateful for are the things you complain about the most? We see it daily in the form of such statements as:
Man, I don't want to go to work today!
My husband/wife get on my nerves!
These children make me sick!
I'm tired of spending so much money on these bills.
The list can go on.
As believers in the Earth, we are faced daily with frustrations, tiredness, anger, etc. We find ourselves confronted with the choice of gratitude or giving into emotion. It goes without saying that we have heard enough of dying to our emotions, but what happens when your emotions are louder than anything else around you? What happens when the blessings feel like burdens? Is this normal?
The answer is a resounding yes! Not only are these feelings normal, but the Father has already made provisions for this. Let's explore Scripture for an moment. The Apostle Paul admonishes believers in Philippians 4:4 to "rejoice in the Lord always." Always is a constant, unceasing, moment of time. We are to find ourselves taking joy and delighting in God. This is the first step in overcoming the weight of our blessed reality. If any point we rejoice in the good times of our marriage, the success of our children, the promotions of our career, the sales we find in the grocery store, and anywhere else, we remove ourselves from the place of eternal rejoicing. It is in God, where we take our delight knowing that "every good and perfect gift comes from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.." (James 1:17 NKJV)
The next vantage point we have is understanding that we don't have to escape our human emotions in order to be grateful. We have already established that gratitude is a matter of divine posture. However, there are times our human emotions make getting into that divine posture difficult. This difficulty shouldn't be ignored, but it should be addressed, and our Messiah does so in Matthew 26:36-46. We know of the Christ's Garden of Gethsemane experience. We know all too well of his prayer to the Father, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." It is seen throughout the testimony we have of Jesus Christ, that He served at the pleasure and will of the Father, but in this particular passage of Scripture, we see the Son of Man who is feeling the human weight of the assignment God has given Him. Christ knew that the end result yielded much good in the restoration of mankind back to God and His original intent, yet it was the Messiah who prayed THREE times, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Christ did not escape or hide what He was feeling in His emotions, but it is was in His vulnerability of His human emotion that led to His glorifying of the Father. The latter half of his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt."
As we move forward in this holiday season, let us not seek to escape our emotions orcover them up. Instead, let us endeavor to be vulnerable before the Lord in prayer about where we truly are in our soul with the assured promise that we have a "High Priest who understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do.." (Hebrews 4:15 NLT). After we present our humanity, may we emerge realigned to the divine posture and position as sons of God who know that all that we have is because of our Good Father, and in Him, and in Him alone, can we rejoice always!
