Most of the inter-personal struggles in life can be traced back to our own egos and these are greatly shaped by the wounds, both real and imagined, that we received from our parents & peers in childhood.  A verse of great value to me over the years comes out of the Bible.  “When I was a child I spake as a child, but now that I am a man I put aside childish things.” This speaks to me a great truth. When we look at the formative events of our past we often remember them in the same emotional setting in which they occurred.  These events that we remember most are generally painful ones from our youth and they often carry the same emotional components as when they first happened in childhood.  We need to take this into account and relive our emotional memories with the more mature knowledge and breadth of vision that advancing years bring.  

    This technique of reliving painful childhood memories with the knowledge of maturity is called “re-framing.” One simply re-visualizes the event in question and instead of the focus being on our personal pain, we shift the focus, paying attention to other parts of our memory. Within the memory there are always parts being ignored because we are so focused on our (see above statement about ego) personal pain. Being able to see the rest of the memory without the cloud of self absorbed personal pain will allow a person to find the redemptive part of the picture. Once the redemptive part is located then attention can be shifted to that area and a whole new dimension of healing will flood the memory. Some people call it finding God in the picture. 

        Joy and Celebration for Evangelism

God has commanded his blessing upon us.(Lev. 25:21) Because of this blessing, everything we will ever need is already provided for us. We have every reason to be in joyful celebration full time. Yet, we are not. Being granted freedom from worry and care doesn't seem to resonate with us as much as we might imagine. Why is this so? 

Search your memory banks and recall every image that represents Jesus and the disciples that you have ever seen, whether in stained glass or marble or oil paint. Do you recall one that makes you laugh with joy in remembrance? If you do, you are truly blessed. For most, the images that appear to the minds eye are scenes of some dour looking characters dressed in robes , maybe holding a staff in one hand and trying to not step on the sheep while looking like they might have just stepped in something else! They are either suffering greatly or, if not actively in pain, their joyousness is represented by the smallest of smiles that seem to grant this one second of reprieve from a lifetime of misery. This is Holiness? How can these images be reconciled with joy and celebration? The answer is, they can't. Does not compute.

It would seem that most artistic energies throughout the ages have been focused on the "Agony" of Christ and all the saints to the exclusion of the "Ecstacy." Sort of like the evening news. If it bleeds it leads! With this focus on Christianity presented to the popular culture, is it any wonder that even within the church joy & celebration are often seen as some hoped for bonus only attainable beyond the pearly gates.   What a bummer! Who made these rules?

There is some Good News here. Like every other scheme he initiates, Satan has over played his hand. By letting this characterization of Christianity, rife with misery, be broadcast so widely with no anti-thesis it has bordered on the absurd and has left us with an oppurtunity to reclaim our celebratory spirit as the "new birth-right" of every true believer. After all, why can't a few blissfully joyfull saints be allowed to celebrate? How could they stack up against 2000 years of mis-represented misery? 

This is our opening and now the real story emerges. Joy and celebration are contagious! The joy of the Lord is our greatest strength. Nobody sees it coming, especially from those historically miserable Christians.   Letting this joy-light shine before men will be a most effective tool for Evangelism. This will lead to a much different result than haranguing passerby's on some downtown street corner. Most people don't want to hear about how messed up they are, that they already know. They want a way out of their misery. Shine a joy-light upon them.

Put yourself in the shoes of an un-churched person scurrying through life, grabbing any comfort they can, racing in place to arrive at a destination that they can't define with nothing to stave off the inevitable pains that accompany life. One day, as you run another lap around the rat race-track, you chance upon this really joyous person. Not some happy, pollyanna, power of positive thinking striver. A genuinely joyfull person who radiates an aura of goodwill and satisfaction. This is different. You don't see this every day.   You ask yourself, "How do I get a piece of that?" That is when they are ready to hear.

The deep joy arising from experiential discipling with Jesus is the greatest evangelical tool we will ever have in our evangelical arsenal. Living life in celebration is an irresistable fragrance that will attract people like bees to honey. Even the most soul-deadened drone will react to a whiff of real joy and hunger for a taste. They recognize eternal spices wafting across their palate, lighting up all their spiritual taste buds. That is the essence of joy and celebration, they are eternal by nature. Their presence in our lives is tangible proof that the Kingdom of Heaven is breaking into our fallen world and leavening man-kind with hope. Hope is what the world is hungering for, dying for. Let us be those vessels of clay, beams of joy shining out from every crack, feeding his sheep.   Living out these disciplines will lead us to celebrate His gift of Life. Remember, in evangelical settings, it is always better to be the sought after than to be the seeker.