Rejoice Always!
It is very important for us to have the right view of Scripture. The Bible was inspired by God, so all of it is the Word of God, every word. It doesn't just contain the Word of God. Therefore, it has no errors. Whatever it says is true. It is infallible since it is from God. That means it always leads us in the right way, when we understand it correctly. So we need to take it literally, except when it is obviously symbolic, and we need to heed every command. There is one brief verse in the Bible that we need to consider today. (I Thessalonians 5:16) It only has two words, but those two words speak volumes. It is a command, and we need to obey it. It simply says, "Rejoice always." This is a present tense command which means continuous action in the present. Always means all of the time. Therefore, God is commanding us to constantly be rejoicing 24/7 and 365. I am sure that raises a lot of questions, but I believe that is just what God meant to say to all of us. Rejoicing ...