A trip to the theme park Pirate’s World was every teenager’s dream.
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When in my freshman year of high school, we took a class trip, I was elated—and yes, we were “studying.” I’m not sure what we were studying—rollercoaster mechanics or something—but it was school-related, so we were studying. At least, that was the guise. As our bus pulled up to the gates, our classmates piled up and over the turnstiles in an unorderly fashion, nearly crushing me.
I had fun exploring the aisles of games. Everything from bean bag tosses, to ring-around-the-bottle, to various shooting, darting, or slinging games. I explored the rides—my favorite being the giant slide. The dust wafting as we’d disembark provided great entertainment, as did the chit-chat at the top when we’d ask the attendant if we could share a burlap mat, slide backward, or anything else we could dream up to get him to chuckle while he said “No.”
And then there was the food. I gorged myself on a candy-coated apple followed by cotton candy. I had more sugar on my fingers than in my mouth.
My excitement waned when a classmate asked when I was going to ride the Steeplechase rollercoaster. Not wanting to appear as terrified as I was, I presented logical excuses.
“We have all-day passes,” Charlene* said.
“Thanks, but…”
“You’re scared, aren’t you?”
Charlene didn’t wait for an answer. She pushed a bag of popcorn into my sugar-coated hand, scooting us towards the roller coaster. Seconds later, I found myself crushing the bag as we boarded Steeplechase. We followed this by riding the log flume, which dropped a watery twenty-feet at its peak. As clashing metal wheels squealed to a stop, I could hear them because I’d finally stopped screaming.
“Let’s go again!” Charlene said.
I dug my heels into the dust and refused to be dragged back onto either ride.
“Okay then, let’s go to the little one. It’s called The Mouse.”
Charlene pointed out how much easier it would be, seeing as my bag of popcorn and I had conquered two rides already.
“Focus on dropping popcorn. That’s your mission,” she said.
This two-tiered ride provided us the joy of hitting classmates on the lower deck with kernels while on the upper deck. Charlene and I separated so we could hit each other, and when she departed to ride other rides, I remained, becoming an expert at popcorn bombing.
I thought about these fun times while reading Philippians. Paul’s leadership style was to encourage his disciples to be filled with two Spirit fruits: joy and rejoicing. He writes, “Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me” (Philippians 2:17-18 KJV).
Seventeen times in this four-chapter book, Paul uses the word “joy” or “rejoice” or another variant. Joy is defined as “to bridle” while rejoice means “to celebrate.” Because Paul chose the discipline of having bridled joy, this gave him opportunities to celebrate even when circumstances did not align with natural happiness. He knew he must model joy and habitually rejoice to guard his followers from discouragement.
Paul had plenty of reasons to fear. He was imprisoned while writing the book. Nonetheless, his mission-minded focus, coupled with a positive attitude, enabled him to let joy and rejoicing have their perfect work. His rejoicing enabled him and Silas to sing songs when they were imprisoned and fettered. This resulted in the jailer and his household experiencing salvation as Paul shared the gospel with laser-focused joy.
But it didn’t stop there. While on house arrest in Rome, where every six hours he was chained to a new guard, Paul spent time witnessing to each man. They might have even requested a turn with him since scripture records their salvations (see Philippians 1:13-14).
We cannot choose our circumstances, but we can choose our focus. Let’s choose to lead others with a positive outlook, and in a God-honoring way, empowering friends to share the gospel as Paul did. Whether times are easy or dire, when we model joy and rejoicing, we have the promise that our witness will hit its target like a well-aimed kernel.
Do you lead others with bridled joy, as Paul?
Thank You, Lord, that I can have joy and rejoicing, regardless of circumstances.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
