Paul’s prescription for anxiety begins with a call to rejoice. Paul used every tool in the box on this verse, hoping to get our attention. First, he employed a present imperative tense so his readers would hear him say, continually, habitually rejoice!1 And if the verb tense wasn’t enough, he removed the expiration date. “Rejoice in the Lord always” (emphasis mine). And if perchance the verb tense and always were inadequate, he repeated the command: “Again I will say, rejoice!” (emphasis mine).
