Rejoice with Thanksgiving and Contentment
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
Philippians 4:4-7 & 10-12
While serving on staff for a local church for several years, we used to call the timeframe from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, “Thanksmas.” From a planning and operational standpoint, the two milestone dates on the calendar seemed to run together. While it was a holy time, filled with special services and a sense of anticipation, it also became a bit of a blur for those developing and leading the services, events, and activities of the season. Try as we might, we couldn’t slow things down.
In our passage from Philippians, we are charged to rejoice in the Lord always. It is immediately stated a second time – Rejoice! – just in case we are stuck in our daily anxiety or worries about all the demands the holidays bring. We are to set aside all that draws us away from His presence, and with gratitude rest with a feeling of contentment that can only be realized through the peace of Jesus, for today and all our tomorrows.
An Outreach Foundation mission team recently engaged with house church leaders at a discipleship conference. The leaders are both students who are learning and pastors (not ordained, but shepherding in a very real sense - caring for the neighborhood flock, learning as a student one day, and turning around and teaching others the next). These leaders/families we met were just a small sampling from a huge movement where God’s love is spreading through the persecuted church.
As I was preparing this, it occurred to me that our brothers and sisters of the persecuted church are living out the charge Paul places upon us in his letter; like Paul details in V. 11-12, these courageous leaders are content despite difficult circumstances. We are generally not living in a persecuted environment, but we can glean from this passage how to live and rejoice with thanksgiving and anticipation. May our souls be content as we wait on the Lord.
Rev. Doug Stewart
Associate Director for Mission
The Outreach Foundation