Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. (Philippians 4:04-05, NKJV).
In the world today, gentleness is often synonymous with weakness, and weakness is to be hidden at all costs. For a natural man, one whose spirit remains dead in trespasses and sins, this makes a lot of sense because the only resources available to a natural man are of this world. His weapons of warfare and protection are carnal, fleshly. Camouflaging vulnerabilities is good strategy if you are a citizen of earth, and if your only hope is in this life. Unfortunately, while you may prosper within your allotted time on the planet, when you die, all your carnal strengths, all your sensible strategies, and all your plans and schemes come to an end. You are left standing naked and unprotected, subject to the full fury of a holy God, with nothing to shield you from His righteous wrath.
If that is your fate at death, you will know with unmitigated certainty and everlasting regret that it did NOT have to be that way. You will finally acknowledge and hopelessly understand all the loving opportunities you were given by Him to escape eternal damnation simply through faith in Christ, and nothing else. I cannot help but think that one of the greatest torments of Perdition will be that very knowledge - that stubbornly, willfully, you refused to be saved. All the post-mortem regret in the Universe will not remedy your condition or ameliorate your agony.
For those saved by grace through faith, however, there is reason to rejoice always. This is true because the Lord Jesus Christ made our salvation possible. He took upon Himself that eternal agony in OUR place, suffering the just and due penalty for OUR sin, though He Himself knew no sin. For that once for all sacrifice, the Father granted Him our lives, eternally. To receive that life we simply, sincerely, repent (not do penance) and believe. Nothing else will do. Nothing else is possible. It is that, and only that, or an eternity of unthinkable suffering. And regardless of either your opinions or feelings about the way of salvation, that is God's honest truth. Disbelieve at your own grave, inevitable peril.
The Apostle Paul is so adamant in his exhortation for the redeemed to rejoice, that he commands it to be unending, and then repeats it. His reasons are as many and as profound as the gifts that have been bestowed upon us by Christ, starting with meaning and purpose in this life, and flowing seamlessly into all the eternal blessings we are promised to receive in the next. There is no such thing as annihilation. Those who die still wrapped in their congenital sin do not merely blink out of existence. Their consciousness remains, and at that Day of Judgment, they will be physically resurrected for everlasting condemnation. In the interim, between physical death and eternal separation from God (the Second Death), they are kept in the place of torment. If for no other reason than we have escaped such a horrendous destiny, we who are saved should rejoice with joy unspeakable. But there is so much more.
We are promised everlasting life in a New Heavens and a New Earth. If that strikes you as absurd wishful thinking, contemplate the odds, the wishful thinking if you will, of conscious human existence happening "by chance" in the first place. Meditate on the patent absurdity of the anthropomorphic character of the entire material universe. Dwell on the vast, immeasurable improbability of a tiny rock, in the midst of a mediocre solar system, on the outskirts of a nondescript galaxy, being the home of the likes of us. The recreation of the Universe by Divine Fiat is far more probable, likely, and believable in comparison.
Do you enjoy the beautiful things of this life? They are mere shadows of the things to come. Art, literature, sweeping terrestrial landscapes, loving relationships, warmth, light, life, safety, security, peace? These will be yours without qualification or limit. Do you enjoy variety and interesting pursuits, or being wholesomely entertained and delighted, or challenged by profound ideas and discussions? These too are yours without end. Is your desire to be reunited with your loved ones who have died in Christ, or with beloved saints of the past? To know as you are known? To recapture the moments of this life that were either too fleeting to fully enjoy, or lost because of circumstance or error? All this and things beyond that which we can ask or think are ours in Christ. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9, NKJV).
Given these promises, believing these promises, explains why we can, and should, rejoice. It is honoring to our God and Father. It is honoring to our Savior. It is a hallmark of our faith. And there is more: a direct connection between rejoicing in the Lord, and the reasons that make it possible and compelling, and letting our resulting gentleness be made known to all men. Only someone secure, as we are secure, can afford to always be gentle. Only someone who has the rock-solid divine guarantee of an incorruptible and invulnerable future destiny can allow that gentleness, founded on joy in the Lord, to be known to the world.
Think about it. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain in Christ. We are in His hands. Our days have been mapped out before the foundation of the world. He knows their number, and He knows their end. He knew us before our birth, and will be with us always, even unto the end of the world. Nothing is impossible for Him, and He works all things together for good to those who love Him. The truth is this: gentleness requires strength. The archetype of a gentle giant rings true precisely because this strikes such a resonant chord within the human mind. It's a no brainer. We therefore can be gentle because that Giant of Giants is on our side, protecting us, keeping us, and caring for us, forever.
So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6, NKJV).
