I
don’t feel like celebrating. Haven’t you heard; the times, they are burdensome!
Maybe you have so much stress that you can’t even detect something worth
celebrating? At more times than I want to count, I do! At the very least we are
unplugged from celebration with the exception of major holidays. Note to self:
“You are being robbed of most of the potential for joy in your life.”
So,
if we are already celebration jaded, is there a way out? Yes! First, allow
yourself to be restored to your ‘celebratory’ God given potential. How, you
ask? Let me pose an example of restoration.
While
Nelson Mandella was in jail for 27 years in South Africa was he just marking
time and wondering what was being served for lunch. No he was dreaming of and
envisioning a free South Africa! He was allowing his jaded heart to be healed;
even to the extent of forgiving the awful policy of Apartheid. He was envisioning bettering the plight of marginalized
people groups all over the world! And now, the world ‘celebrates’ Nelson
Mandella.
Do
you get it? Ask God to heal your jaded heart. I have, and vision is being restored.
The eyes of my heart are being sensitized to perceive celebration potentials.
You and I can be plugged back into the vast God given opportunities to being
fully alive and strengthened by joy! The journey to serendipitous celebration
joy is sustained by Celebrating God! Begin at the beginning.
1:3
Let’s celebrate God! Every spiritual
blessing in heavenly places has found its definition in the fact that we are in
Christ.
1:4
This association goes back to before the fall of the world, His love knew that He
would present us again face to face before Him, identified in Christ in
blameless innocence. (The implications of the
fall are completely cancelled out. katabalo
- “to fall away, to put in a
lower place,” instead of themelios
- “foundation” see 2:20 - Thus
translated “the fall of the world” instead of “the foundation of the world.”)
1:5
He is the architect of our design; His heart dream realized our coming of age
in Christ.
(Adoption here is not what it means in our Western society, it is a
coming of age, like the typical Jewish Barmitsva. See Gal.4:1-6 “…and to seal
our sonship the spirit of His son echoes Abba Father in our hearts.” Greek, huiothesia ).
1:6
His grace-plan is to be celebrated:
He greatly endeared us and highly favored us in Christ; His love for His Son is
His love for us.
1:7
Since we are (fully represented) in Him, His blood is the ransom that secures our redemption. His
forgiving us our sins measures the wealth of His grace.
1:8
This grace shown towards us communicates a wisdom and discernment of our worth that
completely surpasses any definition.
1:9 The secret is out! His cherished love-dream
now unfolds in front of our very eyes.
I f that doesn’t
stoke the flames of our celebration joy, nothing will. Also, just read through
the book of Psalms and you will discover another hinge-pin of the depths of
this restorative path. Let me provide an example.
“Hallelujah!
Sing to God a brand-new song, praise him in the company of all who love him. 2 Let all Israel celebrate
their Sovereign Creator; Zion's children exult in their King. 3 Let them praise his name
in dance; strike up the band and make great music! 4 And why? Because God
delights in his people, festoons plain folk with salvation garlands! 5 Let true lovers break out
in praise, sing out from wherever they're sitting, 6 Shout the high praises of
God, brandish their swords in the wild sword-dance - 7 A portent of vengeance on
the God-defying nations, a signal that punishment's coming, 8 Their kings chained and
hauled off to jail, their leaders behind bars for good, 9 The judgment on them
carried out to the letter - and all who love God in the seat of honor!
Hallelujah!” (Psalm 149, Msg)
“Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy house of worship, praise him under the open skies; 2 Praise him for his acts
of power, praise him for his magnificent greatness; 3 Praise with a blast on
the trumpet, praise by strumming soft strings; 4 Praise him with castanets
and dance, praise him with banjo and flute; 5 Praise him with cymbals
and a big bass drum, praise him with fiddles and mandolin. 6 Let every living,
breathing creature praise God! Hallelujah!” (Psalm 150, Msg)
Hallelujah! This
word is the most revered in all of language for all of history. It means and is
translated the same throughout all of history; in every tribe, tongue, and
nation—“Celebrate God with thanksgiving,
praise and worship continually”! It doesn’t matter what we have endured
(remember the story of Nelson Mandella) we must practice Hallelujah!
You won’t believe the next imperative of
celebration. I’m quite certain that you are more than acquainted with hardships
of every kind. Well, even this holds another key to our celebration
restoration.
“By
entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us - set us
right with him, make us fit for him - we have it all together with God because
of our Master Jesus. 2 And that's not all: We throw open our doors
to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door
to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand - out in
the wide open spaces of God's grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our
praise. 3 There's more to come: We
continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because
we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, 4 and how that patience in
turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God
will do next.
5 In alert expectancy such
as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary - we can't
round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our
lives through the Holy Spirit! 6 Christ arrives right on time to make this
happen. He didn't, and doesn't, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself
for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do
anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn't been so weak, we
wouldn't have known what to do anyway.” (Romans 5: 1-6, Msg)
“2 Consider it a sheer gift,
friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. 3 You know that under
pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. 4 So don't try to get out
of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and
well-developed, not deficient in any way. 5 If you don't know what
you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and
won't be condescended to when you ask for it. 6 Ask boldly, believingly,
without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like
wind-whipped waves.” (James 1:1-6,
Msg)
So there! No matter what is going on circumstantially
around us, we can be awakened to the unending joy of Celebrating God! And in
doing these simple things we will again celebrate all that God-life has to
offer!
On the road to genuine celebratory joy, Ron
Ross
http://youtu.be/vg5qDljEw7
