Yesterday I celebrated my birthday with my Family.  I had a good time, and the cake was good (thanks for the cake Mom!), but the experience of celebrating my birthday has changed for me the past couple of years.  In the past I enjoyed everyones comments and jokes.  I looked forward to opening my presents.  I even felt like I deserved the accolades being bestowed upon me by my relatives and friends.  Now, well, now it feels like I am celebrating for the wrong reasons. I am 35 years old, married, no kids.  I am an IT guy at a small company and I make the median income for the community I live in.  My life is average.  My life is small and in many ways insignificant.  Why is that worth celebrating?  What have I done to deserve any acclaim? I can answer that question simply, nothing.  I have done nothing to warrant praise.  I am average!  Here's the thing that will be hard for you to understand, even though you might not feel like it, most likely you are average too.  Only a select few people in this world are above average. So what about those select few?   Do they deserve to be praised?  No, they don't.  Even the most special human being on this planet is still human.  Humanity equals flaws.  We are all flawed.  We are all depraved sinners who can't even comprehend the dust on Jesus' sandals, much less the magnificence of the God who created the entire universe.  (When I refer to the dust on Jesus' sandals I am referring to our continuous discovery of smaller and smaller particles within the matter that makes up our world.  We used to think the smallest particle was the molecule, then the atom and now quarks etc.  We can't comprehend it because it's creation is too miraculous for our limited intelligence.) What have I created that could be worthy of praise?  Nothing.  Sure I write this weblog, and it's goals include writing entries that glorify God and educate and edify others, but that is still not my creation, it is God's creation, e.g. me, working with the gifts God has given him.  I didn't create anything.  I used the intelligence and skills God has given me to install, load and write this blog.  Every aspect of this blog is the accumulation of Gods gifts to me, not anything I posses outside of him. Which brings me back to my birthday celebration and how it has changed for me over the years.  Now I don't get excited about my birthday anymore because it is just marking the time I have left.  I am reminded that I have one year less in which to perform God's work before he calls me home.  I want so badly to explain to everyone how simple and amazing the act of Salvation is, and how misunderstood it is.  I want to use the skills God has given me as a writer to spread his message to the world.  I want everyone to know that I am nothing and he is everything. I am nothing.   That statement goes against the very fabric of our society.  We are all told by the world that we are special, that we have intrinsic value.  We are told that we are "okay just the way we are".  All the negative sides of our personalities are being explained away as genetics, poor parenting or societal pressures.  No one is being held accountable for their own actions.  This is a dangerous situation.  The only value we have is with God, outside of that we are valueless.  Outside of a relationship with God we are lost.  Look at this passage from Luke 15.  In it Jesus tells three parables.  Each is designed to show the value you have with God.  But look especially to the one about the lost son (the last one) notice that he wastes his life when he is away from his father.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Parable of the Lost Coin

8“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

11And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25“Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” Luke 15:1-32 (ESV)

Do you see?  When the son was away from his father his value diminished to the point where he wished he could eat the food being given to the pigs!  So it is when you are away from God.  Your life diminishes in importance.  You become wasteful and foolish, seeking after things that have no eternal value. The wonderful point to the story is even though we are worthless without him, God still sees our potential value!  He still searches for us like the woman after her coin or the shepherd after his sheep!  Look at the opening line before Jesus begins telling his parables. The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus spends too much time with the valueless part of society!  Here's where it gets fun.  The truly valueless people are the ones who hold their pitiful human accomplishments, ones performed outside of a relationship with God, above the people who recognize they are nothing compared to God and humbly repent and seek his forgiveness!  Jesus came to this world to hang out with, and in turn save, the sinners from their sin.  The self righteous Pharisees couldn't understand his mission and thought that the people he communed with were below their stature.  The Pharisees were the "select few" humans of Jesus' time who felt others should praise them for their apparent holiness. God shows through Jesus' parables that he places a value on us as humans, but to redeem the value you must be a part of his kingdom.  I think of it this way.  We are currency, like a dollar bill, each worth a specific denomination, but our value is limited to the kingdom of God.  Like a dollar bill in a foreign country, once we leave the kingdom our value is lost. So when I am at my Birthday celebration I can't help but think we are celebrating the wrong thing.  Don't celebrate my years on this planet, celebrate God's work in my life.  Celebrate his amazing grace that is saving this wretched person.  Celebrate God not man. - Sean