I've spent a lot of time in the book of Philippians this year. I spent January through June memorizing the whole book and my plan is to slowly study the whole book by the end of December. It has been a lot of fun and Philippians has probably become my favorite book along the way.
This morning I was reading a commentary on Philippians 2:12-18 and the author made the point that throughout Philippians, joy is a verb and not a noun. It is not a feeling but something we do. We rejoice! It is not dictated by our circumstances but by our perspective. I thought that was really helpful. I decided to take a short walk outside and rejoice in all that God is doing in and around me right now. It was a great walk.
4 comments:
Well said, Berry. I was just with a friend in the hospital, and over a few days we read Philippians together. I could see in his face that God was creating that joy you speak of, even in the middle of a time of great pain for my friend. This joy Paul talks about comes from our knowing God and fellowshipping with His Spirit, something that doesn't change despite our circumstances. Thanks for the good reminder.
I actually expected you to be writing about love... from "falling in love" to "loving." I've thought about the grammar of that a lot.. and I wonder how many other words have this same transformation when you change to the Kingdom mindset. hm.
Thinking of joy as a verb makes it more attainable, doesn't it? It's so frustrating when you "just don't feel joy".
I was doing a google search on whether joy was a noun or a verb and found your blog. Interesting thoughts in your post.
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