Celebrate!

photo by Ian Stauffer on unsplash.com

In Luke 15:31-32 (MSG), Jesus tells of the prodigal son's return and the father's reaction to the older brother's jealousy: “His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”

When I think about going to church tomorrow morning, I have a difficult time with the concept of having to celebrate. I like to think my attitude is one of getting to celebrate rather than having to.

Whenever I contemplate the wonder of heaven, I ponder several things:

1. God rejoices over us with singing! "The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.” (Zephaniah 3:17, NIV)
2. We win! "They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:14, NIV)
3. How long is the party (the celebration)? "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:17, NIV)

Years, perhaps decades ago, I heard a preacher/teacher use an interesting example to illustrate eternity. Select a person, any person. Tell that person he must perform these four tasks:

1. Pluck every leaf from every tree on the planet.
2. Count all the pine needles from every forest on Earth.
3. Pull up every blade of grass growing in the world.
4. Catch every fly buzzing over the ground.

After all that is accomplished, the party in heaven will have only just begun. Though I am not worthy, I still want to be part of that celebration. That is God's gift to me and you...made possible by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. As Kool and the Gang once sang, "Celebrate good times, come on!"