The word, "birthday," is mentioned three times in the Bible (Genesis 40:20; Matthew 14:6; Mark 6:21), and in those occurrences, a celebration was made. It certainly should be a time of joy when a child is brought into the world (cf. John 16:21), and hopefully, we still find joy in our own birthdays. Webster's dictionary defines "birthday" as "the day of a person's birth; an anniversary of a birth.”
On the anniversary of your birth, you should be thankful to God, who gave you life. For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Marvellous are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well (Psalm 139:13,14). Think of the consequences of not being born! There would only be a few things worse than that (cf. Matthew 26:24). Because God created us, we have the opportunity to love life and see good days (1 Peter 3:10). Every year that passes by is a gift from God: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days (Deuteronomy 30:20).
Not only did God give us life, but he also gave our life meaning: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Every day, we should be concerned with doing the things that bring honor to our Lord. When a person first decides to do that, he or she can be born again. Jesus said, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). He went on to say that, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (v. 5). What does it mean to be born of water and of the Spirit? A certain gospel preacher in his Bible commentary said, "One is begotten of the Spirit by believing the Word which the Spirit gave, and born of water by coming forth from the waters of baptism. The flesh produces fleshly life; the Spirit begets spiritual life. (Guy N. Woods, A Commentary on The Gospel According to John, p. 62).
Therefore, as much as we are thankful to be born into this world, we should be even more thankful that God gave us the opportunity to be born again. The former gives us the opportunity to live for a number of days on the earth, but the latter gives us the hope of living forever in heaven with our Father. This is only possible because of our Father's grace. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4,5). In order to live in heaven, we needed forgiveness for our sins. We all have made the choice to sin (Romans 3:23), and the only thing that could free us from our sins was the blood of Christ (Acts 4:12; Revelation 1:5). So Jesus was born into this world to pay the high price for our transgressions, as the writer of Hebrews noted, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man (Hebrews 2:9).
I hope you had, or will have a happy birthday this year. But I hope even more that you've been born again and have the hope of eternal life. Thanks be to God for birthdays!
Brotherly, Jamie
