Spiritual Discipline // CELEBRATION
By Isaac Hovet
On Sunday, Dave Metsker shared the video of Tyler Perry receiving a humanitarian award at the Academy Awards. Watch the video here:
He was being celebrated for “trying meet someone in their humanity.” He invited us to not just see differences, but to see each other in the middle—only love can bring us together.
We celebrate the good things that God is bringing to the world. We celebrate what God is doing. It can be hard to celebrate, because we don’t see what God is doing. But, the Academy saw goodness and they celebrated it.
Can you see what God is doing?
When we are watching we have to know what we are watching for. We will see what we are watching for. The word focus comes to mind. What we are focusing on will be seen. This takes experience and training.
I am not a hunter or a fisherman, but I have been hunting and I have been fishing. When I go hunting and fishing I am the last one who can see what we are looking for. Dan Kelso took me hunting when I was 12 or so and we stopped his truck along a ridge in the Coastal Mountains of Lane County. We peered several hundred yards over a first growth valley. He said, “there!” I looked, I gazed, my eyes searched and I could never see what he was seeing.
I had not done much watching for black-tail deer in the brush. But, he had spent his life developing the vision to see what was out there.
Similarly, we will not see what God is up to unless we regularly develop spiritual eyes to see what God looks like when he’s moving, when he’s at work.
11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living. 13 Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.
Romans 13:11–14 (NLT)
We live in the daytime. We live in the light.
And, we should celebrate it!
Donia and I took time on a walk last week to express gratitude for all of God’s blessings. We decided to live in the day and not in the night. We cannot be asleep during the day, but we must live in the light of God’s goodness and celebrate!
If the Academy Awards celebrates Tyler Perry, how much more should we Christians regularly celebrate! Today, watch and discern. Today, see what God is doing. Today, celebrate!
- Speak out loud: 10 things you are thankful for
- Write a note of encouragement to someone.
- Develop a celebration ceremony in your family. Celebrate and affirm the small things in your life!