阅读经文 

在这里，为基督缘故受过许多苦的使徒保罗告诉我们要靠主常常喜乐。他以极大的热情宣告，“我再说，你们要喜乐。”

接下来的一周，我们许多人都将听到提醒我们应当喜乐的圣诞歌曲，圣诞节我们会听到宣告“大喜的信息”。（参路 2:10）

但对有些人来说，圣诞节并不是充满欢乐的。有些人害怕圣诞节，是因为他们生活的环境。有人写信告诉我，对她来说，十二月是一年中最艰难的，因为在这个月她的家庭发生了很多令人难过的事。还有人写到，如果能取消圣诞节，她愿意付出一切，因为她孤身一人。对一些人来说，似乎没有任何喜乐的理由可言。

当然，保罗在这里说的喜乐，远远比尽力看到事物的光明面更加深刻。他并没有告诉我们要为可能发生在我们身上的悲剧而喜乐。他乃是敦促我们要靠主喜乐，因为耶稣救我们脱离了罪和死亡。在祂里面，我们得以被赦免。因着基督，我们可以带着眼泪经历喜乐。无论你的环境如何，祈求圣灵帮助你，靠主喜乐！

Here the apostle Paul, who endured many hardships for the sake of Christ, tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. And with enthusiasm he exclaims, “I will say it again: Rejoice!”

In the coming week many of us will hear Christmas carols that encourage us to rejoice, and at Christmas celebrations we will hear about “good tidings of great joy” . (see Luke 2:10)

But for some people the Christmas season is not filled with joy. Some dread the Christmas holidays because of circumstances in their lives. Someone wrote to tell me that for her the month of December was the most difficult month of the year because of many sad things that had happened to her family. Someone else wrote that she would give anything if someone would cancel Christmas because she would be all by herself. For some there seems to be no joy at all.

Of course, the joy that Paul talks about goes much deeper than trying to look on the bright side of things. And we are not being told to rejoice in tragic things that may happen to us. We are urged to rejoice in the Lord, because Jesus came to save us from sin and death. In him we are forgiven. Because of Christ, we can rejoice even with tears in our eyes. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you rejoice in the Lord, regardless of your circumstances.