December 18 - Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I say, rejoice. Are you excited about what's coming in a few days? I'm sure that you've probably already been to maybe a Christmas party or watch that favorite holiday movie or, um, you know, maybe have that special Christmas treat that you only get at Christmas time. There is joy to be had in all of these things. Me personally. I like a good peppermint mocha during Christmas time. It's easy to focus on the things around us during this time because everything kind of looks pretty, and people seem to be a little bit nicer. But even the people around us, um, we can sometimes put our desires in the wrong place, our joy, put in the people and the things around us. And Paul reminds us in this passage that our joy is found in the Lord and the Lord alone. Can we find joy in our family? Yes. Can we find joy in the simple day-to-day things that we get to do at Christmas time, like look at Christmas lights? Absolutely. But this is a good reminder from Paul that not once, but twice he says, rejoice, that our deepest, truest joy is found in the person of Jesus Christ. So this holiday season as we focus on the birth of Christ. Remind yourself that the joy of Christ is not seasonal. It's actually eternal, which means we get to do this all year long for the rest of eternity. He came 2000 years ago as a baby, and he will come again as a reigning king. So yes, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice.