Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
I have a friend who is the most incredible encourager ever.
Seriously. No matter what kind of good things are going on in my life...whether as small as getting a new hair cut, or as huge as signing with an awesome literary agent- she totally rejoices. She allows her heart to be captured by my emotions and by my life. You can hear the excitement in her voice, and you can tell it's SO genuine. Sometimes, I feel like she's about to break out in dance. I joke with her that she's my biggest fan...and she has been ever since we were kids. She really, truly rejoices when I rejoice.
I wish I could say the same about all of my friends...but I can't. I actually have a category of people in my life who I CAN'T share good things with. Fears of tension, jealousy, and the potential competitiveness that may creep into those conversations keeps me absolutely silent when good things are going on. So I keep quiet.
As much as that bothers me and gives me the feeling that I can't truly be real...I totally get it, because I too have a bit of disgusting covetousness in me. A pride that wants the good things for myself. Why is it hard to hear the blessings in the lives of others? Why is it sometimes easier to mourn with the people around us than to rejoice?
I don't know for sure...but from my experience in my own life, the dirty culprit comes down to nothing more dangerous than the plague of insecurity.
Insecurity causes us to rise up in comparison to others rather than to celebrate ourselves.
Insecurity forces us to think we need to achieve, to have, to be in order to gain value.
Insecurity tricks us into believing that when others are have more...we have less.
It's an evil little creature, slithering about with the intent of killing our joy...and our ability to rejoice.
The ironic thing is that at the end of the disease of insecurity, we are robbed of rejoicing with others...but we are also stripped of our ability to rejoice in ourselves.
I don't know about you, but I want to experience more joy. I want to be the "biggest fan" to the people in my life. I want my heart to flutter and rejoice in response to their blessings, to their successes, to their achievements. I want to experience the joy that comes with feeling the joy in the lives of the people around me.
Take inventory...how are you at rejoicing for others? How deep does your joy run for the people around you, when God pours His blessing on them? What feelings come to the surface when you are faced with the prosperity of the people in your life?
Don't be fooled, the inability to rejoice for others is a symptom of something far greater than a simple lack of emotion.
Ask Jesus to come into this part of your life. To fill you with value, worth, and a security beyond what you can try to scrape up for yourself. To see the all-encompassing beauty of Him rejoicing over YOU...dancing over you...so that one day, you too, can learn to dance for others.
