TRADITIONS-POSITIVE
God wants us to remember to
see Him in the most mundane parts of our lives (Dt. 11:19). And what we see, He wants us to talk about
with our children. When that level of
significance is added to the ordinary repetitions of life, a tradition is
created.
Treasuring God in our Traditions, Crossway, 2003, p. 24.
Thinking of birthdays raises
an important question. Some of our most
significant events – birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, funerals – honor
particular people. At those times, how
do we demonstrate that God is at the heart of every celebration? Can we honor God appropriately while focusing
so much attention on people? How do we
keep God at the center? We can answer
those questions in various ways. Paul
said, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Ac. 17:18); “For from Him
and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be glory forever. Amen”
(Rom. 11:36). Through Him we have birth
and life and every thing and every person in our lives. So God is the reason we have anything to
celebrate. He is the ultimate source of
our celebrations. As we read in James
1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from
the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to
change.” When we realize that the
child, spouse, the life, the friends, the family are all gifts from our Father,
it makes every celebration a “thanksgiving” day, a time to express our heart of
thanks to God. Saint Augustine said
something that might help us when we worry that making much of a person might
somehow be competition for our love of God.
“For he loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee,
which he loves not for Thy sake.” In
other words, as my husband explains, “If created things are seen and handled as
gifts of God and as mirrors of His glory, they need not be occasions of
idolatry – if our delight in them is always also a delight in their
Maker.” Thinking about a few special
days might help us see how much this truth can play out.
Noel Piper
Treasuring God in our Traditions, Crossway, 2003, p. 65-66.
Memory is the mother of
traditions. Almost all of our special
days are celebrated because they remind us of something significant in the
past…Our celebrations are occasions to look back and remember what God has done
in the world and in our lives.
Noel Piper
Treasuring God in our Traditions, Crossway, 2003, p. 64.
But why this disciplined
emphasis on tradition and memory?
Because of the rootlessness of today’s culture. The contemporary world’s post-Christian
mind-set, its confusing pluralism, its broken families, the high rate of divorces,
and the nomadic mobility of so many have produced a generation without memory
or tradition. And frankly this is where
many Christian families are- especially if they have not come from Christian
backgrounds. These Christians feel
rootless, alien, and insecure. This is
sufficient reason from every Christian family to take conscious and disciplined
measures to cultivate tradition and memory.
But there is an even more compelling reason. Namely, God’s Word dramatically recommends that all believing families
cultivate both spiritual memory and spiritual traditions to commemorate and
celebrate God’s goodness.
Kent and Barbara Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 44.
We need to use common sense
in regard to memory and tradition.
Neither will happen unless there is a disciplined resolve to do
something about it. Our human, sinful
tendency is to forget God’s benefits.
And if we make no disciplined effort, we will not fully celebrate God’s
goodness.
Kent and Barbara Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 53.