What does it mean to rejoice in Christ? In this video, Dr. Michael Reeves describes how Christians can understand the call to rejoice and find joy in all circumstances.
Throughout the New Testament, Christians are called again and again to rejoice in Christ. But very often Christians don’t know how to rejoice. They can think that joy is a feeling to be conjured up within themselves, that they should pep themselves up to feel this rejoicing. That’s simply not how it works.
How it works is shown to us in 2 Corinthians 3:18. “We all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into his image from glory to glory.” We grow in Christ-likeness and we share Christ’s own joy as the Spirit opens our eyes to behold, to contemplate, to focus on, to fix on Him. It’s when we look to Him, when His light drives away our darkness, that’s when we find ourselves starting to rejoice; not when we look inside ourselves, not when we looked at our performances or our feelings. It’s when we look to Him, His graciousness, His holiness, His constancy, His glory, that’s when even in all circumstances, Christians can find joy bubbles up as they see Him.