Sacred Holidays - A Right Perspective of Holidays, Rituals and Traditions
Traditions, holidays and celebrations - Oh, how we love them! From landmark birthdays to Christmas, we find reasons to rejoice, sing, laugh and give gifts. God implemented times of feasting and partying in the Old Testament. It was His idea to set apart spaces of time for events such as these.
Holy days were times of remembrance and eating and great fellowship among God's people. They celebrated Passover, Esther's brave saving of the Jewish population and took days of rest. However, I wonder if our parties have changed into tradition and unspoken law that is more harmful to us than helpful these days.
For example, some birthday traditions are extreme where people spend extraordinary amounts of money all in celebration of themselves. In some celebrations, people become so drunk that they cannot even recall the event they attended. Some christians and churches demand tradition and it becomes legalistic instead of celebratory. This should not be.
Recently, I have read the book "Sacred Holidays: Less Chaos, More Jesus" by Becky Kiser. I was pleasantly reminded of how we miss the opportunities to rejoice in celebration as God intends. In the book, Becky explains that it is to be used as a reference for us to examine the reasons why we celebrate and to reframe our holidays in a God-honoring way.
Our traditions and rituals should never compete with the Word of God. It should be enhanced and compliment our walk with Christ.
Do not let your traditions be in vain. Do not make idols from your symbolic remembrances. As Christ followers, we do not push Christ aside or lay down our Holy Hats to have a girls trip. Real fun is knowing and living out righteousness in everywhere we go and in everything we do. We rejoice because of Jesus not in spite of Him!
Holy days were times of remembrance and eating and great fellowship among God's people. They celebrated Passover, Esther's brave saving of the Jewish population and took days of rest. However, I wonder if our parties have changed into tradition and unspoken law that is more harmful to us than helpful these days.
For example, some birthday traditions are extreme where people spend extraordinary amounts of money all in celebration of themselves. In some celebrations, people become so drunk that they cannot even recall the event they attended. Some christians and churches demand tradition and it becomes legalistic instead of celebratory. This should not be.
Recently, I have read the book "Sacred Holidays: Less Chaos, More Jesus" by Becky Kiser. I was pleasantly reminded of how we miss the opportunities to rejoice in celebration as God intends. In the book, Becky explains that it is to be used as a reference for us to examine the reasons why we celebrate and to reframe our holidays in a God-honoring way.
Our traditions and rituals should never compete with the Word of God. It should be enhanced and compliment our walk with Christ.
Do not let your traditions be in vain. Do not make idols from your symbolic remembrances. As Christ followers, we do not push Christ aside or lay down our Holy Hats to have a girls trip. Real fun is knowing and living out righteousness in everywhere we go and in everything we do. We rejoice because of Jesus not in spite of Him!
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