“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.” – Philippians 4:4.

Paul had an attitude! His attitude was one of rejoicing no matter what. When the letter to Philippi was written Paul was under house arrest in Rome knowing that he could very well be executed. In addition, there were those who were trying to add to Paul’s troubles. But Paul was able to rejoice in spite of his circumstances. How? With each difficulty Paul was able to see good coming out of them (Philippians 1:13-18).

 

Paul could also have joy in spite of people. There were people in the church at Philippi that were causing
trouble. There was a false teacher (Philippians 3:1-3) and a division in the church (Philippians 4:1-3). Paul
could have joy because he followed the example of Jesus (2:5). Paul said to have an humble spirit (2:3),
think about the other person’s situation (Walk a mile in their shoes – 2:4), don’t murmur and complain (2:14). 

 

Paul had joy too in spite of the lack of the things of this world. Before Paul was a Christian he had “arrived” in the Jewish world. He was the “Hebrew of Hebrews” (Philippians 3:4-8). Those things were actually
robbing Paul of true joy. Jesus says in Luke 12:15, “… for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance
of the things which he possesseth.”

Worry was another problem that could have kept Paul from having joy. In Philippians 4:6-9, Paul tells us
how to cope with worry. We cope with worry by praying right (4:6-7). We cope with worry by thinking right
(4:8). We not only need to pray right and think right but we also need to live right to be free of worry (4:9).

Got an attitude? I hope it is an attitude like Paul’s!