Romans 5:6-1
Response
REJOICE IN JESUS ALWAYS
Few things are more fatal to real Christianity than the poisonous idea that joy in Jesus is optional, not essential. We can slip into this way of thinking when a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus (joyful devotion) chills to a religious allegiance (dutiful devotion) to Jesus.
No one can read Philippians rightly and regard one’s duty to Jesus as essential but joy in Jesus as merely optional. Philippians 4:4 even says it twice for emphasis: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” What is so striking here is not merely the repetition. Paul says something much more radical: he says to rejoice “always.” Rejoice at all times. This is not unique to Philippians. Paul says the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 5:16: “Rejoice always.” Always rejoicing does not mean there is never sorrow. In fact, Paul can say that sorrow and rejoicing can exist simultaneously, describing himself and Timothy as “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10). Sorrowful circumstances will come, and may cut deep, but the undercurrent of joy runs deeper still, as a river that never runs dry.