"Football is not a matter of life and death, it is more important than that."
Rejoice always
Rejoice always 1 Thessalonians 5:16This is the first of a short series from the end of 1 Thessalonians. Just two words this week but enough to challenge you all week! We live in a world of so much sadness and disappointment. Society gives us such high expectations. We want it all and we want it now. One of the first credit cards in the UK used the slogan “Take the waiting out of wanting”.
Into all that, Paul writes “Rejoice always”. He does not write “Rejoice when you win” or “Rejoice when you sign a lucrative contract” or “Rejoice when you get what you want”. Paul writes, “Rejoice always”.
An athlete I know talks about never letting your highs get too high or your lows too low. It is easier to rejoice with that attitude. At the 2019 World Relays I spoke to an athlete whose team ran brilliantly but messed up a baton change. The athlete expressed a brief frustration at the error but then said: “but we are all healthy, we finished the race and I am thankful for that”. An athlete once told me he had trained himself to smile at the end of a race, in victory or defeat, and in that moment to appreciate the privilege of being a professional athlete.
Rejoicing is an attitude of mind. Ask God to give you a greater capacity to rejoice. Remember the words of Jesus to the disciples in Luke 10:20 “rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
Now that is something to rejoice about.