Never. Stop. Partying.

It's December 26th.
Many living rooms are filled with the remains of Christmas.
Kids bedrooms look like a Toys R Us threw up everywhere.
Dishwashers work extra hard to keep up with the constant stream of dishes.
Lines form at the customer service desks of every store in town as people make returns and exchanges.

With Christmas behind us and New Year's ahead, we find ourselves in that awkward mid-holiday stage...but what we so easily forget is that we have just as much of an excuse to party today as we had on July 4, December 25, or January 1.

Lamentations 3:22-24
Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"

As followers of Christ, we never have a reason to stop partying - every new day and every new breath should serve as a reminder that God has given us new opportunities to be used by Him and rejoice in Him.

In preparation for 2010, the Times Square Alliance is hosting the 3rd annual "Good Riddance Day." Here's how they describe it on their website:

The co-organizers of New Year’s Eve in Times Square (Times Square Alliance and Countdown Entertainment) invite the public to say goodbye, once and for all, to those bad memories of 2009 at the Third Annual Good Riddance Day. On Monday, December 28, 2009 from 12pm - 1pm, a dumpster,shredder and sledge hammer will be stationed on the Broadway Plaza between 46th and 47th Streets to discard any distasteful, embarrassing and downright depressing memories from 2009.

It's time to line to up to say goodbye to everything from disappointing report cards to CDs with a song you never wanted to hear again to fattening foods you've sworn to renounce – anything with a bad memory from the previous year. A dumpster will be available for those un-shreddable items, and a sledgehammer will be on-hand to pulverize all those bad memories away.

That's the unfortunate way that the world has to celebrate. There's only one "Good Riddance Day" per year and people line up on that one day to put things in the past. As a Christian, every single day is Good Riddance Day. When I wake up, I can say "good riddance" to:

- tempation (1 Corinthians 10:13)

- the power of sin & sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

- condemnation (Romans 8:1)

- my sin (Psalm 103:12)

- worries (Matthew 6:25-34)

- anything that has held me back or slowed me down (Philippians 3:13-14)

...and much more!

The only reason we would ever have to stop partying would be if God quit being compassionate and merciful. Lamentations 3:22 says the opposite, however. It tells us that His compassions "fail not."

So, PARTY ON!

Every day can have the freshness of January 1st, the remembrance of December 25, and the freedom of July 4.

Never.

Stop.

Partying.