Every human being has a birthday, and a lot of people, especially children, love to celebrate their birthdays every year. Some adults celebrate only the ages they consider as remarkable, like 21, 30, 40, 50, etc.
Some people throw big parties when they attain such ages. In fact, some would travel across continents, countries, states, cities, etc. to celebrate the birthdays of loved ones. But there are also people who see birthday as just another day no matter the age they have attained; they go about their normal life, putting on their regular clothes, and doing the same things they do on the other days of the year.
Again there are some who see their birthday as a day to sit down and take stock of their life so far. Such people want to know how successful they have been probably in comparison to their mates or in relation to goals they had earlier set for themselves and hoped to accomplish by the time they attained that particular age.
But then, whether you are celebrating it or not, those who know it is your birthday like to be extra kind to you, pamper you, give you gifts, visit or call to wish you well, pray for you, etc.
Birthday is so important to some people that they take serious offense if their friends or family members forget to call to wish them a happy birthday. And in some organizations you are not expected to be at work on your birthday – it is considered a holiday for you.
However, there is a birthday that probably most believers hardly care about, but which is actually more important than even the day that one was born into this world – the day of one’s birth into the family of God.
Many Christians do not even remember the day they gave their lives to Christ and even many who remember allow the day to pass like any other day. But then look at what Moses said to the children of Israel in Exodus 13:2-3, “…Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place… This day came ye out in the month of Abib.”
Now we all know the story of the children of Israel – how they got into the land of Egypt, the hard labor to which they were subjected, and how the Lord sent Moses through whom He brought them out of Egypt and out of servitude and bondage. By the commandment of the Lord Moses gave instruction to the people that they should not forget that day of deliverance. For them as a nation and even as individuals it was a birthday of some sort – the day in which they were “born” into freedom, and so it should be a time of celebration for them each year.
So also, we were all born into sin and darkness, and we remained in subjection to the devil and his cohorts, including the world and the flesh, until the Lord in His mercy came and delivered us out of their hand. He took us from darkness and brought us into His marvelous light (1st Peter 2:9), and now we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).
He made us His co-laborers (2nd Corinthians 6:1) and gave us power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). He has given us the power to rule over sin (Romans 6:14), and also over the devil and all his agents who were oppressing us in times past (Isaiah 14:2).
And as if that is not enough, we are no longer on the way to hell and destruction but we are marching to heaven to spend eternity with the King of kings. This is definitely worth celebrating.
It would be a very good thing for us as believers to make conscious efforts to remember and “celebrate” our spiritual birthdays.
Why? For one thing, remembering the day you were born into the family of God will produce thanksgiving from your heart unto the Lord especially when you think about what your life was like before you got saved. You will want to give Him the thanks that He really deserves for seeking and saving you.
You will also want to thank Him for whomever He sent to preach the gospel to you. Secondly, Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”.
Remembering your spiritual birthday will make you number your days in the Lord. You want to calculate how old you are now in Him, and then questions will begin to flood your heart, and your answers to those questions will determine what your next line of action will be. For instance, you want to ask yourself whether the love you had for the Lord when you first accepted Him ten years ago is still fresh or has been replaced by the love you have for the business you started last year.
What about the zeal with which you served Him four years ago? Is it still there or has something else taken its place in your heart? You want to know how many of the sins you confessed to God when you answered the altar call are still found in your life on your fifth birthday as a child of God.
You want to know how many people you have brought to Christ since you got born again nine years ago, and how many of them you have actually discipled so that they can stand on their own.
What services have you rendered to the Lord since He saved your soul eleven years ago? What have you achieved with all the anointing and grace He has been releasing upon you since He gave birth to you twenty-three years ago? What is your Christian testimony like? Since you got born again over forty years ago how many people has your lifestyle brought to Christ without you opening your mouth to tell them that you are a Christian? Is God proud of you at all, and to what extent? Your spiritual birthday is supposed to be a time of sober reflection, during which you make an honest assessment of how well or otherwise you are doing.
It is also a time to prayerfully plan how to change in areas where you have been performing below God’s expectation, and also how to do even better in areas where you are doing well already.
It should be a day when you set goals that you hope to have achieved by the same time in the coming year. You may even decide to have a feast on your spiritual birthday. This you can do not by throwing a lavish party with plenty of food and drinks and a lot of noise, but by fasting and quietly fellowshipping with your Father in heaven.
You see, when you are fasting, your spirit is actually feasting because fasting weakens the flesh and strengthens the spirit – it gives the much-desired “nutrients” to your spirit man.
Something as little as remembering the day you were born into God’s family can contribute immensely towards making you the kind of Christian He wants you to be. Plan to “celebrate” your spiritual birthday this year.
By victoria Baiye
www.buildingfortheking.com
