Remember . . .

I apologize for missing yesterday's post.  My day got away from me.  I'm still new to blogland, I know there is a way to schedule my posts . . . anyway, I'll figure it out!  Hope you didn't miss me too much!  Now, let's talk about the fourth commandment.

⁸"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  Exodus 20:8-11

We've talked (at least, I imagine us as having a conversation!) over the few days of how the commandments are just one of God's expressions of love for us.  Knowing that, we can trust that there is nothing that God would ask of us, or command us to do, that was not love-driven.  In other words, if we have a love relationship with our Creator, we can trust that everything He says and does is because of His love for us.

Let's take these instructions about the Sabbath.  God thinks we need a day of rest.  That really kind of goes against the American work ethic of work hard, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, play harder kind of life.  Many of us - especially Christians! - don't look at Sunday as a day of rest.  (Is it ok if we agree that the discussion of which day is the Sabbath, why do we not have Saturday Sabbaths, all of that, can be saved for another day?  I'll try to tackle it on Monday.)  I know in our home, often Sunday is our busiest day!  And it's also the day that we are most prone towards grouchiness, tiredness, and fatigue.

Hmmmm . . . why would our day of worship be tinged with irritability?  Could it be that God knew what He was doing when He created us, that He in fact knew that one day we would celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, not on Saturday, and that for most of the world the work week would begin the next day?  Is it at all possible that God created a day of rest for OUR benefit?

What happens when we get tired?  Not just physically tired, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually tired.  We are just . . . done, right?  You get to a place where you just literally cannot do it anymore, not one more thing.  That's sure not where God wants us to be!  Look at the verse that so many of us love:
       but those who hope in the LORD
       will renew their strength.
       They will soar on wings like eagles;
       they will run and not grow weary,
       they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

We learn from that verse, that GOD renews us.  Sure, we all love spa days, vacations, and movie nights.  Sure, those things are relaxing.  But the only way that we are going to get true energy and strength is through our Creator.

Know what I love about the Bible?  I love how it all fits together.  God gives us the commandment (for our own benefit) to rest on the Sabbath day.  Then He tells us over and over that our rest comes from Him (the only rest that is perfect).  Then Jesus comes to reinforce and reconnect us with this commandment.  In Mark chapter 2 He says:  ^27"Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."  The Message version says it this way:  "The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren't made to serve the Sabbath." 

Isn't that a neat way to look at the purpose of the Sabbath?  Again, it's for our benefit; the Sabbath serves us by allowing us rest, a time to recharge our batteries.

So . . . what are you doing to rest on the Sabbath?  Are your activities honoring God by honoring this commandment?  We have something called "Football Fellowship" in our church.  We meet at someone's home on Sunday afternoons and eat, watch football, share time together, and have devotions during half time.  I don't know about the other families involved, but studying this commandment really makes me want to rethink the way we do this.  Why?  I don't want to stress about having my house perfect, having the perfect food, and so on.  I've decided that I want to offer this to our group:  let's get pizza or subs and forget about the rest!  It's not about the food, it's about the r's:  resting.  relaxing.  recharging. 

I'm cutting back on what we do on Sundays.  Sunday evenings will be our family's Sabbath rest.  We'll spend time together, talk about our worship experience, maybe play a game or watch a movie.  We'll do whatever we have to do to truly - not just in name - but truly take a Sabbath.

Are you truly taking a Sabbath day?  Are you honoring God with your Sabbath?  Use this day to think that through, and re-think how you spend your day. 

Keep blazing!