Rejoice evermore commands continual rejoicing, joined with unceasing prayer and gratitude in every circumstance as God's will for believers in Christ. This joy in God belongs to a life of faith and victory, not to sadness, self-depreciation, or condemnation. Continual rejoicing is part of Christian conduct toward one another and toward all people. It belongs to the development of Christian character toward the perfection Christ will complete in the new earth, through inward transformation by the renewing of the mind in which the graces of the Spirit replace evil in the heart and leave their impress on the countenance in refinement, peace, benevolence, and pure tender love, the inward adorning precious to God.
Such rejoicing is possible continually because God is life, light, and joy to the soul, and Christ's abiding presence gives companionship throughout the day, so that trust in Jesus enables rejoicing in God as Savior even when hardship and loss press heavily and despite outward failure. The ground of this joy is what Christ has done and promised: as a sin-pardoning Savior He takes away sin, clothes believers with garments of light and His righteousness so their joy is full, gives them expectation of belonging to the royal family as children of the heavenly King, and, as good tidings of great joy, brings heaven's brightness into life when His promises are freely and fully accepted, replacing sadness and despair with hope and faith like the life-giving leaves of the tree of life.
Christian joy is not joking, jesting, lightness, or frivolity, but a sweet peace expressed in the face and a holy joy shown in the life that abides in the heart when Christ is enshrined there, remaining joined to sobriety and unrelaxed watchfulness while still carrying a serious burden of love and sympathy for others and doing duty. The verse calls for showing politeness to God by constant thanksgiving, praise, and glorifying Him for His blessings, including reviving audible rejoicing with exclamations of praise and thanks when blessing comes or hearts are touched under preaching, which glorifies God and is not fanaticism. This appreciation of Christian hope is to be expressed in joyous songs of praise and thanksgiving in which heavenly angels join, convincing the world that Christ's religion takes away heaviness and mourning and clothes the soul with joy and gladness, influencing character and bringing heaven into life and near.
Believers are to rejoice rather than complain even when they suffer for Christ, remembering what Christ has done for them in praise and full trust in God as they press onward and upward in the Christian life, and following this counsel brings heaven near and means having fewer trials in this life. Joined to unceasing prayer, constant thanks to God for all things, and melody in the heart to the Lord, this rejoicing anticipates the restoration of all that was lost in Adam through the sufferings and death of Christ, when sin, disease, blemish, and deformity are left in the grave and the body is changed to the spotless image of the Lord like His glorious body.
Rejoice evermore commands continual rejoicing, joined with unceasing prayer and gratitude in every circumstance as God's will for believers in Christ. This joy in God belongs to a life of faith and victory, not to sadness, self-depreciation, or condemnation. Continual rejoicing is part of Christian conduct toward one another and toward all people. It belongs to the development of Christian character toward the perfection Christ will complete in the new earth, through inward transformation by the renewing of the mind in which the graces of the Spirit replace evil in the heart and leave their impress on the countenance in refinement, peace, benevolence, and pure tender love, the inward adorning precious to God.
Such rejoicing is possible continually because God is life, light, and joy to the soul, and Christ's abiding presence gives companionship throughout the day, so that trust in Jesus enables rejoicing in God as Savior even when hardship and loss press heavily and despite outward failure. The ground of this joy is what Christ has done and promised: as a sin-pardoning Savior He takes away sin, clothes believers with garments of light and His righteousness so their joy is full, gives them expectation of belonging to the royal family as children of the heavenly King, and, as good tidings of great joy, brings heaven's brightness into life when His promises are freely and fully accepted, replacing sadness and despair with hope and faith like the life-giving leaves of the tree of life.
Christian joy is not joking, jesting, lightness, or frivolity, but a sweet peace expressed in the face and a holy joy shown in the life that abides in the heart when Christ is enshrined there, remaining joined to sobriety and unrelaxed watchfulness while still carrying a serious burden of love and sympathy for others and doing duty. The verse calls for showing politeness to God by constant thanksgiving, praise, and glorifying Him for His blessings, including reviving audible rejoicing with exclamations of praise and thanks when blessing comes or hearts are touched under preaching, which glorifies God and is not fanaticism. This appreciation of Christian hope is to be expressed in joyous songs of praise and thanksgiving in which heavenly angels join, convincing the world that Christ's religion takes away heaviness and mourning and clothes the soul with joy and gladness, influencing character and bringing heaven into life and near.
Believers are to rejoice rather than complain even when they suffer for Christ, remembering what Christ has done for them in praise and full trust in God as they press onward and upward in the Christian life, and following this counsel brings heaven near and means having fewer trials in this life. Joined to unceasing prayer, constant thanks to God for all things, and melody in the heart to the Lord, this rejoicing anticipates the restoration of all that was lost in Adam through the sufferings and death of Christ, when sin, disease, blemish, and deformity are left in the grave and the body is changed to the spotless image of the Lord like His glorious body.