For the 4th Sunday in Advent, Series C readings, the three passages are Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Philippians 4:4-7 and John 1:19-28. Chosen as the text to proclaim is Philippians 4:6, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”

It’s one thing that we are not to be anxious about anything but we are also to be thankful? Not only that but two verses previous to that is we are to be rejoicing in the Lord always! But what if our lives are not filled with that for which we are to be thankful and rejoicing? Here again we find a distinct difference between the only 2 religions in the world–Christianity and everything else.

For in everything else, your rejoicing and thanksgiving is directly proportional to what you are experiencing. If you are experiencing evil or suffering, then god is not happy with you and is punishing you. But the Christian faith reveals that God thinks just the opposite of common sense religion. What religion considers good and evil is the opposite from God’s point of view.

The cross makes clear that suffering is not evil. Moreover, giving your good works to God as a means of meriting your way into heaven is evil in the sight of God. So how are we able to be rejoicing and thankful in the midst of the evil that surrounds us? The answer is found in verse 5, “The Lord is at hand.” This phrase is not only referring to His omnipresence but also to His omnicare for His children.

There is nothing that happens to His children that He does not direct for our good. Because we are at peace with God because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He promises to guard our hearts and minds at all times. With God at your side in every situation and under every condition, who cannot be thankful and not anxious for what is about to happen? God is in charge. He was on Good Friday as evident by Easter Sunday. He is for you every day as will become evident on the Judgment Day of His third coming.