When Is It Time To Celebrate?

I recently saw an article entitled “Why You Should Celebrate Everything”. It was a pretty good article, although I think they may have gone a bit too far. (they even toasted their wet carpet which they had just finished cleaning…hmmmm). 

The author mentioned that “giving extra attention to the good things in life, celebrating the little successes, helps keep us connected…. noticing the good stuff in your life can be a reminder of your talents and abilities, skills and persistence….drawing on those things can motivate us to keep working toward our goals.” (Polly Campbell, Psychology Today, 12-2-15)

We see celebration throughout the Bible. The shepherds, wise men, and angels celebrated the birth of Jesus with gifts, songs, and prayer. God gave Israel many celebrations in the Old Covenant.  In the New Covenant, he has given us the Lord’s Supper and baptism. We also see future celebrations such as the wedding of the Lamb. It is clear from Scripture that celebration is a spiritual discipline that God desires for us to practice. It was never his will for Christians to live dry, boring lives and that is why we see celebrations both commanded and practiced throughout the Bible. Scripture says that Christ came so that we may have life and life more abundantly (cf. John 10:10). This abundant life includes celebration. (ref. Bible.org)

Life is full of many wonderful happenings and often many sorrows. If you don’t celebrate the goodness of God, they can be quickly be overrun by the sorrows. We celebrate the Lord’s Day every week…celebrating the resurrection of the Lord…every week. It keeps our eyes on heaven while we are at work on this earth. 

We just celebrated the birth of our 38^th and 39^th grandchildren and are awaiting our 40^th in December. We have a lot to celebrate. But if we don’t celebrate God’s many blessings, they will be forgotten or some sorrow will take center stage and push it aside. God is good and has blessed us all. Let’s celebrate his generosity and goodness… and may we look forward to our eternal reward where we will celebrate God’s great goodness for ever and ever and ever and ever and ……….