I Will Say It Again, Rejoice

Listened to a great Francis Chan message this morning as I was driving: “Living With Joy” from March 22. Joy is the character quality I’m trying to focus on developing right now, and I need all the help I can get…

An interesting point from Chan: We will hold Christians accountable for breaking God’s commands (“Dude, you’re a Christian, you really shouldn’t have murdered that guy.”) but we don’t do that for God’s command that we be full of joy. When is the last time you went up to someone, or someone came up to you, and said, “Dude, you’re a Christian, you really need to rejoice always”?

And, yes, it is a command. In fact, with what other command (other than to rejoice) does God repeat Himself twice in one verse? (He doesn’t say, “Don’t murder. I will say it again, don’t murder.”)

So … if any of you want to hold me accountable for joy, I give you permission. (But I’ll be pissed if you do it.) (Just kidding.) (I think.)