Skip to main content

Day 7 Be His

You know Sabbath is a commandment, right?

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God..." (Exodus 20:8-11).

No one, not even servants were supposed to work on the Sabbath.  God regarded this commandment to be just as important as "do not murder." With this kind of severity (and there were major consequences for not keeping the Sabbath in the old testament), why don't we hold ourselves accountable to this commandment as often as we should?

We live in a world that tells us to do and forget being.  I mean, be yourself, but that means do all the things that will make you unique.  We are valued by what we accomplish and how many unique abilities we have.  I know that I am guilty of finding my worth in what I do, I've shared this before.  Maybe that's why we hear so many worship songs about God's love for us-- we know that we don't have to earn God's love, but we live like we do. 

I think that's partly why God created Sabbath.  He knew us and designed us for work and to do good things and to have amazing abilities, but he also knew that we'd forget that we are not those things.  We are his, and he loves us because of it. Trying to earn love is exhausting, and that's why we have grace.  His mercies are new every morning, not because we have worked hard, but the exact opposite.  We don't get what we deserve (which is, eternal separation from God) because Jesus did the work for us. 

"You stand before God as if you were Christ because Christ stood before God as if he were you."
-Charles Spurgeon

So what if we took Sabbath seriously? Not just taking time to rest physically, but putting down our phones, turning off the TV (even if the football game is on... I know, a horrid thought), and just being still. Being in the presence of our Father.  Acknowledging where we are, who we are, and all the ways God has worked in our day or week.  Let's rest in his goodness and in his promises because tomorrow will come and the things will get done-- they always do.  So just be his.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 29 Roots

Orange unfurls from green and lies under layers of brown. Roots are planted deep, but canopies are left bare with death as bitter winds befriend my nose and fingers. I pray my roots are deep enough to endure the change of season. What if death consumes everything that sits on the surface so everything underneath is exposed? Dig deep, patiently wait for the sprout to emerge, let the roots begin to sink in. The winds may blow the leaves away and break some branches, but resurrection comes with change too. Hope lives in the roots.
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 27 You are a Leader

Today Pastor Chris (at Riverbank Church in White River Junction, VT) talked about one of my favorite topics-- Christian leadership.  What do you think of when we hear the word "leader?" Maybe you think, "sure, I'm a leader." That's great! But maybe you think, "uh, no way, I don't have the abilities or the gifts to be a leader." And if that's you, I understand where you are coming from. But friend, I'm lovingly telling you, you're dead wrong. As Christians, we are all leaders.  Really, I think we're just defining leadership wrong. Leadership, from a biblical standpoint, is serving others (Matthew 20:28), influence (Galatians 5:16-25), responsibility (Galatians 6:4-5), character (2 Peter 1:3), and skill (Luke 1610-12). We all have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and he is the most powerful influence. So if we have him living inside of us, and working through us, how can we not be leaders? See, God does not call the qualif...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 28 Divine Love in Truth

I'm going to back-track here... back to truth. Remember how I said it's connected to love? Christopher Heuertz says in The Sacred Enneagram  that "there is divine love in all truth no matter where it's from." But see, sometimes the truth hurts. So where's the love then? What about the truth that I am broken and selfish and impatient and human? When we are held accountable, we typically don't like hearing where we've gone wrong. And yet, being held accountable is so valuable and necessary. It helps us see who we truly are-- even the ugly bits.  It teaches us how we can grow and who we are becoming.  It draws us closer to Love. When you can see where you struggle, you can also choose to see your potential. I believe that's how God sees all of us.  He sees our cracked pieces and sees beauty because he can see the final work. It requires hope on our end, and patience to hear and develop from hard truth. So next time you hear someone tell you that t...
Post a Comment
Read more