Intro, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Welcome to the start of my blog!  The idea of "Freshly Brewed Coffee" is something that I love, something that always brings a smile to my face.  Whenever I wake up to the smell of coffee, I'm starting my day with enthusiasm and motivation for the hours and classes to come.  The same should hold true with the Bible.  It's something that should be so pleasing and fragrant that we desire to wake up with and use to make it through each and every day.  I'm not the best with reading my Bible, so hopefully this gives me motivation (and encouragement for you) to continue to update this site.  My goal is at least to have a new post on MWF every week.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

These verses have always been an encouragement for me to realize that I'm here to glorify God, not myself.  It's God's will for us to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful.  This might not seem like a lot to do, but it's a mindset we need to passionately pursue in our lives.  

 

The word joy is often confused with happiness, but their meanings have a key difference.  Someone can be joyful without being happy, and the converse is true as well.  Happy is only short-lived, just a momentary feeling, but joy is love and happiness throughout your life, and it comes from the love that Christ shares with us.  Hence, Paul says that we should rejoice ALWAYS.  In Philippians 4:4, he's so excited about it, he says it twice.  We can love people without agreeing with them at the moment.  It's a way of thinking (Cosgrove would call it a worldview) that we should strive towards.  

 

After we establish this, we need to talk with God and thank Him for these things because every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17), and His will far surpasses our own ideas.  He didn't have to give us this;  it's only by His vast love that we can spend eternity with Him.  We have a way to communicate with the Creator, so let's take advantage of it.  It's my goal for the week to actively seek out joy in my life, no matter the circumstances I'm in at the moment.