A few months ago as I was on my worship walk, a thought crossed my mind. It was just one of those fleeting thoughts to which we often don’t pay much attention. I was praising my LORD and singing aloud as I walked. I remember my praise and worship being intense at that moment. I had been thinking about attitude … about a devotion I was planning to write about how our attitude of joy and thankfulness needs to flow through every situation for us to have victory amid the difficulties of life.
Suddenly, a thought … “easy to preach while things are going well.” When that thought entered my mind, it was followed by a second one. “Expect to soon have opportunity to put that joyful attitude into practice!”
That thought hit home. I guess I was not really surprised when I walked out of the doctor’s office about a month later with a tentative diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR). That’s an auto-immune disease characterized by fatigue, pain, stiffness and other symptoms. (I have an appointment with a rheumatologist on November 26 to confirm that diagnosis or figure out what else this might be!)
As I left the doctor’s office, reality set in that everything going forward will be a bit more difficult than it has been and I’m going to have plenty of opportunities to put into practice what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” [1 Thessalonians 5:16-18]
Pastoring, teaching, evangelizing must always be more than words, it must also be modeling the life of Christ to others. “Being joyful always” and “giving thanks in all circumstance” must be more than words … they must be a lifestyle—especially amid life’s trials and troubles.
After all “being joyful” and “giving thanks” are ALWAYS God’s will for us in Christ Jesus.
