In our meditation yesterday, I mentioned the main feasts of Judaism. To refresh our minds, the feasts are – the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. In 1 Samuel 20:5, there is addition to the list as we see the feast of the new moon celebrated. This is not to mention the mandatory rest observed every Sabbath. The Old Testament feasts were important and compulsory. For example, as simple as the Sabbath appears, breaking it attracted the death penalty. These laws no longer bind us; but the rest and the celebration that they represented are still relevant to us.
With a measure of creativity, you can turn your special events to gospel events to reach out to souls and honour the Lord.
Essentially, those festivals were occasions to worship God. That was why each of them, regardless of when they were celebrated, was called a holy convocation to the Lord. Beyond worship, however, the holidays were for the rest and happiness of God’s people. Rest and joy have a positive impact on health. As we learned earlier, though these festivals no longer bind us, we need to maximize our joy by making occasions out of seemingly ordinary events of life. Events like birthdays, wedding anniversaries and other anniversaries could be turned into “feasts of the Lord”. At a time, Levi, a publican, hosted Jesus for dinner and used the occasion to invite many publicans to hear God’s word. Also, Cornelius gathered friends and neighbours in his house to hear God’s word through Peter. With a measure of creativity, you can turn your special events to gospel events to reach out to souls and honour the Lord.