Who, of the people you know, throws the best parties? Are those people Christians? They should be.
The Most to Celebrate
Christians, out of all the people in the world, have the absolute most to celebrate. We have been redeemed by God, reconciled to the Father, made new, our sins have been forgiven, and we've been put in right standing with God. We've been adopted by the heavenly Father who has promised to never leave or forsake us, the power of God lives in us, we've been promised eternal life, and we're heirs of the King!
What could possibly be more worthy of celebration than all of that?!
The Least Celebrative
And yet often times when I hear Chrisitians interact (and I'm guilty of this myself too), it seems as if none of the above is true. We're so prone to focus on our struggles over and above our blessings - over and above all that Christ has done for us.
“Who, of the people you know, throws the best parties? Are those people Christians? They should be.”
It's not that discussing our sin struggles and experiencing suffering should be hidden away (they most certainly should not be); however, celebrating who God is and what He's done and who He's made us to be should have at least equal (I'd argue for more) airtime than our struggles.
When we get this flipped, we inherently communicate false truths about our God to the world around us as we slip into a quasi-redeemed fatalism that says: life is hard, I suck, sin is strong, things probably won't change, it is what it is but "thanks be to Jesus."
That doesn't sounds like "good news"... because it's not.
What Are We Celebrating?
When I first was planting 2 Pillars Church, I had a church planting coach who would call me once a month to equip, encourage, and help me in the planting process. His name was Bob. Each month as I prepared for that call, I had a list of struggles, questions, junk I needed to vent, lists of things that weren't going well, not to mention my own sins that I needed to confess and repent from.
“Christians, out of all the people in the world, have the absolute most to celebrate.”
Bob, knowing this was the case, would always start every single one of those coaching calls with the question: "What are we celebrating?"
That sounds simple, I know. It sounds cheesy, I know. But, it was one of the most powerful things that God used to continue to point me back to His goodness, His blessings, and what He was doing, despite all the junk that I saw down in the muck and mire.
What Are You Celebrating?
You might not feel super celebratory today, but if you believe and belong to Jesus you have so much to celebrate. What are you celebrating today?
How often do you focus on the things worth celebrating in your life?
Photo Credit: Jessica Brinkmeyer