Rejoicing.
That's one of those loaded churchy words that we know and love and totally want to do and find it quite easy to undertake at great news from work or an exciting moment in our family or when we find our missing teaching copy of The Sun Also Rises with three years' worth of notes in the margin.
But how do we "rejoice in the Lord" as we are so often urged to do?
Rejoicing is different from giving thanks for what He has done for us (though, obviously, that is hugely important, as well). I think it's more about worshipping His unfathomable greatness and sovereignty with a mixture of humility, excitement, and joy. If we look at the Old Testament models of rejoicing, since it abounds there, there seems to be quite a bit about lyres and timbrils and rattler-sistrums and dancing and burnt offerings. However, since I left my rattler-sistrum in my other pants and Mississippi is currently under a burn-ban, how else do we worship with rejoicing? I'll be honest:
I have attempted to dance before the Lord. Unless the Lord is into Senifeld reruns, I don't think it was the most effective worship time...for either of us.
So how do you rejoice? What suggestions do you have for genuine, effective, joy-sharing, soul-lifting rejoicing?
I find it impossible to put into words exactly how someone goes about rejoicing, but I can give a real life example of someone who does and how it impacts others.
ReplyDeleteI work with a gentelman who has never been religious. Just never has been interested. Awhile back, however, his neighbor started doing some repair work in his home for him. This neighbor works a full time job and does this "handyman" job on nights and weekends to support his family. He also has a severely mentally and physically disabled child that requires 24 hour care. My co-worker commented that it seemed that this man had every right to be unhappy with life. He works all the time and still has very little and he has a very ill child, yet every time the man was at his house he was always smiling, always kind, seemingly always happy.
Wanna guess what has happened since? Yep, my coworker is now a Christian and is ON FIRE about it. He said he finally had to ask the guy how the in the world he was so happy despite all that he dealt with in life because he "wanted what he had". The guy shared his faith with him and my coworker couldn't wait to be a part of it. All of this because someone went about their work with a joyful spirit. Amazing!
If that's not a perfect example of "effective, joy-sharing, soul-lifing rejoicing" I don't know one.