WHERE IS THE BIRTHDAY BOY?
” Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20.
There is always something to celebrate in life time. But one special thing that stands out is the day that one is born into the earth. The Bible recognises this, “To everything there is a season…a time to be born.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2.
We are only born once in a life time and no one has two birth days. The day of one’s birth is worth celebrating but in a godly way. It is a day of appreciating God for the life He gives. No one expects his or her birthday celebration to be messed up or to be ruined. No one wants it to be a day of sorrow but well organised (not necessarily flamboyant or extravagant), to be peaceful, joyful and well celebrated etc.
But, imagine people celebrating your birthday
1.They invite guests
2.They rent a big hall that is well decorated but with none of your pictures or anything to indicate that the birthday is organised for you.
3.They decorate all the roads that lead to the birthday venue with glittering things, yet nothing reflects your name or personality.
4.They provide abundant food for the invited guests and for themselves, yet your delicacies are not there.
5.They sing songs and even compose new songs for the birthday, yet they do not include any song that you like, and they do not ask or bother to ask if you like what they arrange for you
6.They all dress well for the celebration and even buy themselves new clothes yet no one remember to ask for the type of clothe and the colour you would have loved to wear or want the people to wear.
7.They buy presents for themselves except for you the celebrant.
8.They make a lot of announcements and jingles about the birthday celebration on the Radio, Television and all media but they do not include your name.
9.They give one another holiday to make the day a big occasion yet they ask you to continue working for them etc. and on your birthday, they sing, they dance, they eat,they talk and present and recognise themselves yet no one cares about you. You are not invited in deliberately. Your interest is not sought as they willingly do not want you to have a say in it and you were tactically pushed aside and not allowed into the celebration hall because they feel some people might feel offended if they mention your name or if you are invited in. Some even debate among themselves why you should be special or what should be special about the day you were born. “Why celebrate him or his achievements?” They queried. While some still see it as a waste of time, money and energy to celebrate you yet they want to enjoy from your resources.
Reflect over these in a minute, how will you feel seeing people spending so much on things they say they organise for you, yet you are not invited or included in everything not to even talk of enjoying part of it while all the money and resources being spent are yours? “The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein”. Psalm 24:1. Is that not what we do to Jesus that we profess to be celebrating? It is Christmas time, either it is recorded in the Bible or not; either the date is known or not, Christmas time is a special time set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It is a time set aside to show appreciation to God for visiting the earth in and with His love “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. Love was released from heaven to earth to bring us back to God.
“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” Colossians 1:19-20.
Christmas is the time to show God’s love to others. Love is to be shared. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:7-11. If we celebrate Easter, we should celebrate Christmas. Christmas is the beginning of redemption, Easter perfects it because if there is no birth in the manger there cannot be death on the cross. As there is no night without the day, there is no death without a birth for someone that is not born cannot die. “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die” Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
Christmas is also a time to appreciate the death of Jesus on the cross and live purely for Him. He was born to die for our sins and make us God’s children and in turn we can bring many to God by what we preach and how we live.
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Hebrews 2:9-18.
But unfortunately, today, the time set apart for Jesus is being hijacked by so much activities that he is either innocently, deliberately or tactically pushed out of the celebration for one reason or the other. How do you want to celebrate Him this Christmas? Though we can celebrate Jesus every day and of course we should live for Him daily, yet remembering that special day that heaven visits the earth in mercy and not in compulsion is worth celebrating. Remembering his sacrifice and love should prompt us to find him a room in our hearts and not to push him to the manger again (Luke 2: 7); we should also offer him something tangible. What gifts are you giving to Jesus? Is it going to be the remnant? The wise men gave him something the Bible could record down; they gave Him valuable birthday present. “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him: gold, frankincense and myrrh.” Matthew 2:11b. Is there any gift for him from you and what type of gift do you want to give to him?
We should remember that He is the celebrant therefore, all attentions must be focussed on Him. He is the reason for the season and if he is the celebrant, then all that we do must centre on him. We can make the celebrant happy by worshipping him in truth and in Spirit according to John 4:24. Genuine praise must be offered to Him with the whole heart, body and spirit Psalm 103:1. He must be at the centre of the banquette hall- robed in majesty and given his duty.
He must not be pushed to the background. He deserves the best and not the crumbs. As we honour him, we should also show his love to others because we cannot profess to celebrate love incarnate while we hate others. Our love should manifest in our relationships with others, it should manifest in what we give to them and how we give them the gifts, and this love must not end with Christmas.
Beloved, I wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance. May the Lord be with you and may the joy of the Lord continually be your strength and once again Merry Christmas.
Evangelist Esther Ogunbayeje
Christ Apostolic Church
United Kingdom
estherami18@gmail.com
+44-747804454/ +44-7988672933
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