“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” — Philippians 4:4

I have a confession: Sometimes, the “Merry” in “Merry Christmas” feels like a mandate I’m failing to meet.

We’re halfway through December. The lights are up, the carols are playing on a loop, and there is a pervasive cultural pressure to be happy. To be festive. To be brimming with holiday cheer.

But for many of us, the reality is a bit more complicated. Maybe you’re navigating the first Christmas without a loved one. Maybe the finances are tighter than you’d like. Maybe you’re just tired.

When I read “Rejoice in the Lord always,” I used to hear it as a command to put on a happy face. But then I remembered where Paul was when he wrote it.

He wasn’t sitting by a fireplace with a cup of hot cocoa. He was in a Roman prison. He was chained to a guard, facing a very uncertain future. If anyone had a right to be miserable, it was Paul.

Yet, he commands us to rejoice.

This tells me that biblical joy is not a mood. It’s not a reaction to pleasant circumstances. If Paul can rejoice in chains, then joy must be something sturdier than happiness.

Happiness is a garden that blooms when the weather is nice. Joy is a fortress that stands when the storm is raging.

Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord.” That’s the key. He didn’t say rejoice in your prison cell. He didn’t say rejoice in the injustice. He said rejoice in the Lord.

Why? Because the Lord is the one unchangeable variable in his life. The prison walls might close in, friends might leave, health might fail—but God remains.

Joy is an act of defiance. It is a spiritual discipline where we look at the chaos around us and say, “You do not get to determine my joy. My King does.”

The shift I’m trying to make: This week, I’m stopping the pursuit of “feeling” happy. Instead, I’m leaning into the joy that is already mine in Christ. When the stress hits, I’m going to pause and anchor myself in the one thing that isn’t changing: God’s presence with me.

Joy isn’t pretending everything is okay. It’s taking shelter in the Fortress of the One who is.

Stay Anchored.

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