“Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!” (Philippians 4:4 Msg).
Have you been staying up past your bedtime to celebrate with those who have won gold medals this week? Every evening NBC has ordered up their coverage in such a way that leaves us hanging on until Midnight to see if the USA gets to take the medal stand. They have certainly hooked me and my wife. We’ve stayed up late every night to see who gets the gold and who sings along with the National Anthem.
Whether you’re hooked on the Olympics or not, everyone loves a good celebration. And speaking of love, we tend to celebrate what or whom we love.
What or who are you celebrating? What’s causing you to stand and wave your arms? What makes you shout and sing? Where are you seeing fireworks, blowing out candles, giving gifts, awarding medals… what do you celebrate?
Celebration is like worship. We recognize that something or someone is worthy and then we give them what they’re worth. We celebrate. We worship. That’s what humans do.
But without the love of God in our hearts, we celebrate lesser things. The Bible calls this idolatry. Idolatry is celebrating, worshiping anyone or anything ahead of God or in place of God.
According to Jesus, the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). Loving God “with all” doesn’t mean that you can’t love anything or anyone else, but it does mean that you must love God first and most.
When it comes to who you love and celebrate, God deserves your gold medal.