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In the world I very much looked forward to my birthday as a child and have memories of being so excited I could not sleep — this meant I was wide awake über early in the morning while it was still dark outside because I knew I would receive presents. This was not wrong to me back then as I was brought up with these traditions as well as all the other pagan days such as Easter, Xmas, Valentine’s, Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and so forth. All of these days were about “getting” and we were encouraged to do so, however, on only one day each year we were supported to have an attitude of being extra special or important — the usual rules didn’t really apply and we could “get away” with more because we considered ourselves superior much like “King or Queen for the day” and especially lorded it over our siblings. This reminds me of when the clock struck midnight for Cinderella — everything went back to how it was beforehand. These feelings and birthday atmosphere transitioned on into adulthood for the most part reminding oneself throughout our special day many times over that it was our birthday while trying to capture that specialness all day as much as one could. That was then and this is now. What changed? God’s Spirit upon baptism definitely changed everything. My life would never be the same again when I told God “bring it on...I desperately am in need of YOUR way” as I hated my life and wanted nothing to do with the world including these ugly “gimmee gimmee” ways.
Why do some Christians still celebrate birthdays but no longer celebrate the other pagan festivals? This is such a curious topic to me as we are all given a choice. Of course God doesn’t say “Do not celebrate your birthday” in those exact words. Ever wondered why? Because we have a choice and God is interested to see what we choose and what type of behaviours these choices involve. He wants us to develop righteous character rather than indulge in self gratification on any level. In order to love our Father and Jesus Christ we should definitely want to know whether we are becoming more like them or whether we are holding onto traditions that are worldly. After all, we do not know the day Christ was born. There is not one mention of Jesus celebrating his birthday...nor any other God fearing person within God’s Word. God the Father has no beginning or end so it would seem certain that He wouldn’t be celebrating any set day (Psalm 90:2). The spiritual world is not bound by time but the physical world is. That should mean something. In God’s Kingdom there won’t be celebrations of birthdays or any pagan days at all — being kind and loving to all every day by giving of our time, prayers, and help like Jesus did when here on earth would surely be preferable? Instead we will be honouring God rather than ourselves by keeping the Sabbath and the 7 annual holy day festivals as we should.
Hopefully you may be interested to know what God does say about birthdays throughout the Bible. Let us start with Ecclesiastes 7:1-2 which says “A good name is better than precious ointment, and the day of death than the day of one’s birth; better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart”. This scripture is incredibly interesting to know that birthdays would be considered as vanity in God’s eyes. Yes, that is what celebrating yourself looks like to God — vanity — useless waste of time. There is nothing wrong in waking up on your day of birth to quietly and meaningfully give thanks to God for another day and to say thank you for allowing me to live another year. That is a humble mindset to have and that is where things should stay.
Perhaps we should consider what one of the most righteous men from the Bible did while he was alive? Did Job celebrate his birthday? No, he did not. He knew it was vanity, however his children did. If we read from Job 1:1-4 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil. And seven sons and three daughters were born to him. Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East. And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, ‘It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ Thus Job did regularly”.
This is the example set for us. It takes strength of character and self control to do the right thing like Job did rather than indulge in feasting and celebrating oneself or compromising for the sake of our children. I love and so appreciate Job’s example because there certainly is pressure to compromise for our children as they expect to celebrate their day just like the children in the world do. Years ago with my youngest child who was 5 years of age at the time I was told just to do things “low key” by having a special choice dinner at home with a few small gifts, maybe a cake and some balloons. Sounded good to me — I was off the hook! Justifying that this was alright made me feel better at the time but it was wrong (Jeremiah 17:9). Instead of asking brethren I should have gone straight to God. God showed me that I must never compromise like this again and He definitely got my attention. If we are close to God He will show us lovingly where we are sinning. Idolatry can be so subtle at times that we may not recognise it. The more we live and the more we experience I am convinced Satan the devil will come at our weaknesses time and time again knowing we will have the biggest problem with ourselves as idols thereby breaking the first commandment.
There are other examples from the Bible we can draw from. The first recorded birthday celebration is not of Adam or Eve, Noah, Abraham or Sarah, but that of Pharaoh in Genesis 40:20 which states “Now it came to pass on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and of the chief baker among his servants. Then he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted [Pharaoh’s dream] to them. Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him”. Self worship and idolatry are what one expects from a pagan man who ruled with a hard heart, stiff neck, and made the life of an Israelite slave’s existence a very heavy burden and even tortuous. Imagine feasting and while all this frivolity was going on, Pharaoh during his birthday celebrations, killed the baker because he deemed it so! Sounds very demonic and incredibly evil. Egyptians and Greeks were documented to be the first cultures to celebrate birthdays with much feasting, revelry, and lustful behaviours. There are so many writings we can search for online about the origins of birthdays, blowing out candles on birthday cakes and what this symbolises, making a (magical) wish, and having that ugly “me, me, me” attitude of expectancy with gifts. If you are serious about living righteously you will make the effort to take the time to research these things in order to be fully aware of the demonic origins of birthdays. Do not let the devil deceive you any longer for we are all at risk for deception. You might think that was so long ago in ancient times from the Old Testament but of course we should see what the New Testament says, if anything.
You may be interested to know that there is record of King Herod celebrating his birthday in Matthew 14:1-12 “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him’. For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. Because John had said to him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her’. And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, ‘Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter’. And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus”. King Herod was foolish — he had probably consumed enough alcohol which gave him a disinhibited frame of mind thereby triggering a lack of self control with hasty words which came to be regretted. His power, pride and self importance inflated his ego so much he murdered one of God’s prophets. So many get drunk on their birthdays as it is fun to them but do they think of the consequences? No!
So, we can now see that the few times birthdays were mentioned, there was murder, lust, envy, rage, revenge, and a whole lot of evil going on because of how pagans do not look to God but rather engage in self-idolatry. They had the power, the means, the right to do as they willed — only thing is, their will was corrupted and as far from God as one could imagine. Christians however are held to a higher account. It is your choice whether you celebrate a pagan festivity but why would you want to when Christ has suffered so brutally for us already? Wouldn’t we want to choose God over self rather than engage in self worship? Think about it...how are we to worship God? Deuteronomy 10:12 provides us with this clear directive “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” Operative word here being ALL.
Returning again to Ecclesiastes in 12:13 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil”. Whom will you serve — self or God? Choose wisely. Dedicate your whole life to God, not just parts of it. God deserves much more than everything we could possibly give to Him. If we were to get down on our knees in prayerful thanks for the rest of our lives, even this would not be enough. What is enough? To empty ourselves out completely and fill up on Christ in humble, heartfelt obedience. Get as far away from worship of self or idolatry as you can. Small price to pay to ditch birthdays with pagan roots. If this is your weakness ask God for help to resist and overcome. Remember the apostle Paul’s words in Colossians 2:8 “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ”. We must wake up and hearken the words from Ecclesiastes 12:8 “‘Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, ‘All is vanity’”. Please God, not self. God help us all to humble ourselves under His mighty hand and fully seek His will, not our own.