Luke 15:21-24 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.

If you have felt the burden of your guilt, the shame of your mistakes, and the sickening feeling of having messed up again, then you may even wonder, how can God celebrate me? But the truth is that He does. In the coming days, we will explore how this happens. But, for today receive what the Bible says in
Zephaniah 3:17 He will no longer rebuke you but he will rejoice over you with singing.

We all love celebrating birthdays and anniversaries. We sing and we dance, we bring nice & generous gifts, we even write beautiful notes. It conveys this message: You are special. You are important. You are loved. You matter to me, to us. 

We all celebrate babies. We touch, we cuddle, and we talk to them in baby gibberish just to evoke a response, a smile and we feel so elated. We sing sweet lullabies in words that the babies do not comprehend yet seem to enjoy.

For some of us, the idea of being celebrated may be alien or a little uneasy because we have grown up with little or no celebration. We even falsely believe we do not deserve it in any way and we look at others through the same lenses. But the truth is you are celebrated as much as the person next to you.

So today…as you close your eyes in prayer smile and enjoy the joyous song that God is singing even as He rejoices over you because He celebrates you along with the angels in heaven.