Philippians 4:4_) Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5_) Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
I can’t really say I’ve ever noticed Verse 5 before, but it really jumps off the page at me. My brother Phil is an amazing student of the Bible and probably knows the deeper meaning of why this scripture follows an admonition to “Rejoice in the Lord”. But, for me, this is a reminder that as I focus on the Lord and rejoice in Him and His faithfulness to me, that it will show in my countenance. How can I be focused on God and His goodness and yet my countenance and attitude be less than gentle? I don’t think it’s possible. Surely as I rejoice in the God of my faith, His provision for me and mine, the many ways He finds to show me His love, and so on, my spirit changes. There is no room for the self awareness that reveals itself through anger, frustration, self pity, etc. When my heart and mind are on Him an amazing thing can happen, if I “let” it. I can choose to then “let” God’s nature shine through me, as a gentleness that is evident to all. As I yield to this transformation, the promise is that “The Lord is near”. It’s a simple formula, but it has the power to turn my day and my spirit around to bring the Lord near, not only to me, but to those around me. Wow..no wonder the previous scripture says we should rejoice in the Lord “always. And again I say rejoice”. In other words..we need to get that. There is power in rejoicing and it impacts us and those around us every single day.
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