Dear Friends,
I collected another birthday this weekend. I have a lot of them now, enough to make comparisons, though none of them are rejects.
Birthdays don’t fare so well in Scripture. There are only two birthday celebrations mentioned and in one Pharaoh hanged his chief baker and in the other King Herod decapitated John the Baptist.
Job “cursed the day of his birth. He said, ‘Let the day perish in which I was born’” (Job 3:1-2). Jeremiah echoed the same sentiment when he lamented, “Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed!” (Jer 20:14).
David wrote a Psalm that gives a clue of what God’s problem might be with our birthdays–
“Lord, let me know my end, and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a few handbreadths and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight. Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Surely everyone goes about like a shadow. Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather. And now Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in you.” (Ps 39:4-6).
David prays the truth. Our hope is in God, not our longevity in this world.
We were created to spend eternity with God. We are re-created again in Christ for the same purpose (Romans 6:4-11). God wants us to fall in love with him and with the thought of spending eternity together (John 17:20-26).
Paul tells us to focus on the eternal dimensions of our lives when he writes to the Colossians
“So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory” (Col 3:1-4).
When Moses prayed, “Teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart,” he was seeking the understanding that wisdom lies in preparing ourselves for eternity, not in trying to master earth’s finite timeline (Ps 90:12).
Do not misunderstand me. There are wonderful reasons to celebrate birthdays on this earth like love, fellowship, gratitude and simply the joy of being alive. I was reminded of this last weekend when friends and family wished me well. A lot of them are readers of this email devotional and my daily Facebook prayers. I was moved by their affection and good wishes.
Birthdays really are about those who love us enough to celebrate that we have made it through another year.
Henri Nouwen wrote–
Celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. On a birthday we do not say: “Thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished.” No, we say, “Thank you for being born and being among us.” . . . Celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people’s birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. These are ways of saying: “It’s good that you are alive; it’s good that you are walking with me on this earth. Let’s be glad and rejoice. This is the day that God has made for us to be and to be together (Here and Now: Living in the Spirit [New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1994].
Earlier in the summer, my alma mater, La Sierra University, awarded me an honorary doctorate of laws. Some very nice things were said about me on that warm June Sunday morning.
I am grateful that God has given me opportunities to serve and that service has made enough difference over time that the University wanted to recognize and thank me for it. But the highest honor received by me that morning was the group of family and friends who came to celebrate with me. It would mean nothing without them.
My personality is such that I like to get things done. I am oriented by nature to seeking results and planning and executing strategies to achieve those results. Patience and grace for human frailties was lacking in me for much of my early life way too far into my adulthood.
I prided myself on being a “loner” who worked hard, and was quick to judge those who couldn’t keep pace or sought a balance of friends and family with their work life. My efforts often blinded me to my need for them and their need for me.
Years of living have taught me that I have human frailties myself. I am grateful for those friends and family who have born with me in my frailties and have forgiven me my sins of arrogance and rash mistakes.
Life, it turns out, is a people business. God acknowledged this at creation when he said, “It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helper as his partner” (Gen 2:18). That text is known to us through marriage ceremonies, but it has wider implications. We were made to live in community.
Jesus says, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Love is known and expressed when we seek the best for each other in kindness and generosity.
The God-given spiritual fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control is necessary for the flourishing of human community and takes on meaning and dimension in its expression there (Gal 5:22-23). Juxtaposed against this fruit is Paul’s listing of the community-destroying “works of the flesh” which include “fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, and other such things” (Gal 5:19-21).
The honor I received from La Sierra University caused me to reflect on what has been significant in my life so far. I searched for individual achievements that would justify such an award and, honestly speaking, there are none. Anything I have accomplished, I have done with the love and support of others. Take away that love and support, and I would be an abject failure.
God had to overwhelm and devastate my personal strengths and ambitions to get anything done through me. Whatever I may have accomplished for good has been through his love in support of others. The people he has given me to love and to love me are the reason and the blessing of my life.
All of the well-wishing, the prayers, the Happy Birthday’s are confirmation of his love for me. I am most grateful.
“O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him” (Ps. 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.