Spiritual Disciplines預覽

Day 10 - The Disciple of Celebration

“Christianity should be a “hallelujah” from the head to the toes!” - Sf. Augustin of Hippo

An atmosphere of celebration should be indispensable in the life of a Christian. We have all the reasons to be joyful! All the reasons to celebrate: our lives are redeemed through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And if all the other benefits that come from this truth do not exist, we should still shine of joy.

However, we see a lot of Christians that don't have a life characterized by celebration. On the other hand, they're always grumpy. Why?

The answer is complex. I will limit myself just to say that their problem is one of perspective.

Celebration and the joy that comes with it are the result of what you look at.

A Christian with a heavenly (vertical) perspective understands that everything that is earthly is temporary.

This helps him have a continuous feast in his heart, no matter what he has or lacks, and no matter how he feels. The joy flows from the position of being a child of God. This is sufficient for him and nobody can steal that from him.

A Christian with an earthly (horizontal) perspective forgets that what is earthly is temporary. And if he doesn’t forget it, he behaves as if these things were eternal. Doing so, he gets to the point where he's influenced too much by his circumstances, and so, joy fades.

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, saved us!

This is the good news of joy that was brought to the poor, the good news that brought healing to the broken-hearted, freeing war prisoners, giving sight to the blind and freedom to the burdened ones. The good news of the year of the Lord’s favour.

The good news is the fact that sinners are the target of God’s love and search!

Do I need other motives to celebrate?

Even if we live in a world characterised by apathy and depression, we choose to look to Him, the source of our joy and celebration.