Birthday Celebrations – Part 3

Birthday Celebrations

Birthdays can be a great time to bring family and friends together, but they can also be a time to reflect or even a time of stress knowing you are one year older than you were last year. When I was first converting to the Christian life I had heard that celebrating birthdays were not necessarily Biblical and that they should not necessarily be celebrated. I will put this into its context in a bit, but the point is Birthdays tend to be a part of most people’s lives, regardless of whether it is a reminder to renew your driver’s license, or that you are being reminded that it is a family member or friend’s birthday coming up. So this week I will discuss birthday celebrations, using the Bible as the go to reference book of choice.

In general, there is no mention of birthday celebration by the righteous characters of the Bible. Neither is there any though shalt nots, about birthdays mentioned in the Bible. The point is that, although yes, we should get along with all and we need to find a balance in life in general (Romans 12:18). We are not to turn anything in life, including our birthdays or the birthdays of others into a situation that becomes idolatrous against God. We can and should enjoy a long life, because God gave it to us. Thank Him for the life He has given us, but do not turn celebrating it into some sort of self-indulged and self-aggrandized situation. Christ came for us, to save us from our sins; He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10)! If we are going to celebrate this life, let us celebrate it for the Glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)!

Darrell

Seven Steps to Freedom

Birthday Celebrations – Part 2

Birthday Celebrations

Birthdays can be a great time to bring family and friends together, but they can also be a time to reflect or even a time of stress knowing you are one year older than you were last year. When I was first converting to the Christian life I had heard that celebrating birthdays were not necessarily Biblical and that they should not necessarily be celebrated. I will put this into its context in a bit, but the point is Birthdays tend to be a part of most people’s lives, regardless of whether it is a reminder to renew your driver’s license, or that you are being reminded that it is a family member or friend’s birthday coming up. So this week I will discuss birthday celebrations, using the Bible as the go to reference book of choice.

Next, the Bible is filled with talk about honour. We are to “honour our father and mother”, “honour the face of the old man”, “honour widows”, “double honour to ruling elders”, “honour the king”, etc. (Exodus 20:12, Leviticus 19:32, 1 Timothy 5:3, 1 Timothy 5:17, 1 Peter 2:17). The point is that we are to honour others, especially the elderly. It’s possible that celebrating major milestones in life like birthdays of elders is a type of honouring. I’ll let you decide.

More to come…

Darrell

Seven Steps to Freedom

Birthday Celebrations – Part 1

Birthday Celebrations

Birthdays can be a great time to bring family and friends together, but they can also be a time to reflect or even a time of stress knowing you are one year older than you were last year. When I was first converting to the Christian life I had heard that celebrating birthdays were not necessarily Biblical and that they should not necessarily be celebrated. I will put this into its context in a bit, but the point is Birthdays tend to be a part of most people’s lives, regardless of whether it is a reminder to renew your driver’s license, or that you are being reminded that it is a family member or friend’s birthday coming up. So this week I will discuss birthday celebrations, using the Bible as the go to reference book of choice.

First, let’s look into the Old and New Testament examples of some of the things that took place around birthday celebrations. There are two experiences in particular. One was when Joseph was in prison after being falsely accused by Pharaoh’s wife. While he was in jail, he met a baker and cupbearer. Both were put in front of Pharaoh on his birthday for judgement. The cupbearer was restored to his position, but the baker was killed (Genesis 40:20-22). In the New Testament there is the beheading of John the Baptist on King Herod’s birthday. It was requested of Herod’s wife that John be beheaded because of his accusations towards them about their marriage and how it came about (Mark 6:14-29). The point is that there has been some connection between, at the least “bad luck” in some situations, and birthday celebrations mentioned in the Bible.

More to come…

Darrell

Seven Steps to Freedom