A Week of Birthdays
On
my side of the family, June 16th through the 20th is a
week of birthdays. The history is as
follows: My sister Lois’ daughter,
Mariel, was born on June 20, 1994. The following year my daughter Joanna was
born on June 17. The year after that, my
other sister Faith’s son, Danny was born on June 18. Then a few years later my
brother John’s son, Nathan was born on June 16, 2008. Finally, John’s fourth son, Levi, who was
scheduled to come on June 20, filled in the gap and was born on June 19, 2013.
(I think I have that all right!) That makes five birthdays in a row among the
16 cousins! At this point it is
impossible to celebrate all the birthdays together. Yet, we try our best to recognize each of the
birthdays, at least with a phone call.
And, last night we did celebrate the two girls’ birthdays together, that
is Joanna’s and Mariel’s, with dinner and a cake.
It
seems like everyone loves to celebrate a birthday. Even for those of us who are getting a little
older and would rather not be reminded of another year being added onto our
age, we still enjoy having a day that is somewhat our own. Even if we don’t make too big a deal out of
it, just a couple of cards or a cake and maybe a bunch of Facebook greetings,
can make the day feel special. And, to
make someone else feel special on their birthday seems like an even greater
pleasure.
As
much as we love to celebrate the day we were born into this world, the Bible
speaks of an even more important birthday: the day we are born into the Kingdom
of God. Jesus speaks of being, “born
again.” The Apostle Peter wrote of the “new birth.” In fact, Jesus says, “no one can see the Kingdom of God, unless he is born again.” (John
3:3 – NIV) That is, in order to enter God’s Kingdom one must not only
experience a physical start to life, but as well a spiritual one. This is the
moment when, in a very real sense, all of life starts over as God forgives us
of our sin and begins to form us into the “new creations” that the Bible tells
us we can become. In essence, each of us
should be able to celebrate two birthdays!
I
am thankful today for the new birth that God has offered to us through Christ
so that “the old is gone; the new has
come!” (2 Corinthians 3:14 – NIV)
And, I hope and pray that each of you know what that means to celebrate
two birthdays—the day you were born in this world and the day you were born
into the Kingdom of God!
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead….” (1 Peter 1:3 – NIV)
Have
a great day!
Pastor
Tim Harris
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