St. Paul says it is God’s will for us that we pray, give thanks and rejoice. We might sometimes wonder why, if rejoicing is God’s will, God doesn’t make life a little easier. But authentic Christian living–as the cross reveals–takes us again and again to a place of dying, so that with Christ we may rise again to new life. Through this pattern of dying and rising, we continue to grow into the full stature of Christ.
This message is adapted from “Rejoice Always” written by Janet Campbell in the July-August 2000 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.