We don’t typically associate hardship with joy. It is only when we see the hand of God behind the hardship and with us in it, that we count it all joy. Joy is not something merely to be experienced; it is to be enacted, brought to bear. And not by way of putting on a mask that denies the difficulty, but delighting in the hand of our God.

 

“Rejoice… pray… give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16-18, NKJV)

Paul winds down his epistle to the Thessalonians with a series of imperatives. Beginning with verse 11 he issues commands such as comfort, edify, warn, uphold, pursue. These imperatives extend through verse 21, right up to his closing benediction.

But they are not merely commands. They are pastoral admonitions from our Lord through His apostle to His people according to their need. When we find ourselves reeling from grief, confusion, or despair we are not to allow ourselves to be tossed to and fro by winds of doubt. Rather, we are to fortify our faith with the word of God and we are to shore up the faith of others in their struggles with that same word.

One aspect of our fortification has to do with perspective. Faith is conviction of things not seen. Not seen does not mean not real, as some would categorize faith. Unseen means realities not perceived through physical eyes but through the eyes of faith, that ability to see that is a hallmark of new life in Christ. We now have eyes to see and ears to hear.

The apostle groups three imperatives together that provide us trifocals for the acuity of our perspective of faith. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16–18).

We see this same grouping in Philippians 4:4-6 where Paul addresses anxiety. They are lenses to be donned in whatever situation of distress we might find ourselves.

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