"Birthday"

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY”
Today is my birthday and I wondered as I lay here should I feel special today? Should it be celebrated by others? Most importantly, I wonder what God thinks.
Birthday cakes. Lighted candles. Singing “Happy Birthday.” Receiving gifts. What does God think?

Since God wants people to celebrate life abundantly (John 10:10), could this include celebrating birthdays? Is birthday-keeping innocent fun—or does God hate it? Well I was shocked to find as I studied my concordance that birthdays are only mentioned three times in the bible and each and every time something really bad happened. I will give you some of it here; please take time and read and study yourself as well, read the whole chapter not just one line, as to not take out of context:

The first account is in Genesis. Pharaoh, the Egyptian king, celebrated his birthday by executing his chief baker (Gen. 40:1-23). God gave Joseph special understanding of a dream by Pharaoh’s butler and baker, that the baker would lose his life three days after Joseph interpreted the dream. Joseph understood that Pharaoh would use this occasion—his own birthday party—to put his baker to death. As the dream had foretold, the baker was hung at the party.

In the second account, the New Testament figures Herod the tetrarch reluctantly ordered the beheading of John the Baptist (Matt. 14:3-11). Notice verse six: “But when Herod’s birthday was kept…” During the dancing and merry-making at his birthday party, Herod got carried away and eventually made a promise that he did not want to keep. As a result, a great servant of God lost his life.

The final account is found in the book of Job. The Bible says that Job’s seven sons “went and feasted in their houses, everyone his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them” (Job 1:4). These parties were obviously not centered on any kind of celebration related to God, or Job would not have worried that his children may have sinned during these celebration feasts. He was not exactly sure what was going on in their minds, but the very celebration of their birthdays triggered great concern in him (1:5). Apparently, during the birthday party of Job’s oldest son, God allowed Satan to kill all ten of Job’s children through what appears to be a tornado (vs. 6-13, 18-19).

Now, this all saddened me, for I had always believed that our birth was so important, but as I read more and more daily I am finding that God is more concerned with our death, as it is mentioned numerous times, time after time. For see our death will or will not be our Birth. Our Heavenly Father cares more about rather or not we spend eternity with Him.

Further proof that these birthday celebrations displeased God is found in Job 3. Take time to read the entire chapter carefully. Job spends much time cursing every aspect of the day of his birth. The loss of all of his children, due to a birthday celebration, stunned and sobered him. His words make plain that there is nothing good about the day of a man’s birth. He openly cursed the day he was born.

It is amazing to see that nowhere in the bible does it say anything good about birthdays. I always thought that the birth of Jesus was celebrated as His birthday, that the wise men brought gifts for His birthday, I will study this and get back to you, but at this point looks like Jesus wasn’t a baby at time of receiving gifts. So how does God feel about birthdays? I believe he wants us to love each other and treat others with respect, but I now believe that He would rather us focus on where our death will lead us. Next time you are celebrating, take time out and think, is this of God. Have a great day in Jesus….