"You must rejoice in God,
or you will not rejoice at all.
Earthly comforts are not yours.
But if you grasp the spiritual and the eternal,
you will not worry." - Spurgeon
God must really want my attention. In fact, He won't stop hounding me. Just this morning the Holy Spirit reminded me of a passage of Scripture that puts a new spin on joy. In Acts 5 the apostles were arrested for preaching the gospel. They were beaten, released and threatened with further persecution if they chose to continue preaching Christ. Acts 5:41-42 reads:
After their release, the apostles went out "rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."
Wow, what a perspective on joy and suffering! The disciples didn't chose joy despite their adverse circumstances. They chose joy as a direct result of their adversity. Although these men were undoubtedly still feeling the physical effects of their beating, they were spiritually rejoicing because they had "been considered worthy to suffer." Have you ever considered suffering a privilege? This puts a new spin on the command to choose joy in the midst of adversity.
Because the disciples had an eternal perspective, they were able to proclaim Christ, despite the fact that they were humiliated and hurting. 1 Peter 3:15 instructs us to always be ready to make a defense of the hope we have within us. As we walk this path of transformation together, let's follow the example of Jesus' first disciples. Let's rejoice that we've been considered worthy to suffer and keep proclaiming Jesus . . . no matter what.
Choosing Joy Together –
Janet
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